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MyspaceThis past Thursday, June 11, photographer Paul Wellman and I were escorted by representatives from U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Santa Barbara Zoo deep into the Hopper Mountain National Wildlife Refuge, where we got an inside look at what’s being done to bring the endangered California condor back to the wild. It was the first trip in a series of excursions that we’ll be taking to research a forthcoming feature in The Santa Barbara Independent about the state of the condor, which nearly went extinct in the 1980s.
Though we weren’t promised any actual condor sightings, the day turned out to be a surprising success: Just a few minutes into our hike down a ridge, we found ourselves within a few dozen yards of a juvenile condor perched on a dead pine tree. Twenty minutes later, we reached a nest observation post. After watching a hole in the cliff for awhile, we had the unique opportunity to witness a condor pair trade off chick-watching duties. The two flew together for a few turns and the father did a few swoops near our position before he landed near the cave, preened his black and white feathers, sunned his large wings, and eventually hopped in to check out his chick. Later that afternoon, while making a pit stop at the Hopper Mountain ranch house, we also saw another pair of condors flying high in the sky.
Rather than have you wait until the article comes out later this year, we decided to publish Paul’s photos on our Web site today. We hope you enjoy them, and we hope there will be more sightings to come.
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Comments
thank you! these images are spectacular - very good photo narrative.
tom (Tom Morey)
June 13, 2009 at 12:58 p.m. (Suggest removal)
This article was really apropos for me, as I just got back from a volunteer condor nest watch for the USFWS in the Sespe Wilderness. Your article had great photos! You were really fortunate to be in the right place at the right time!
condorhiker (anonymous profile)
June 13, 2009 at 5:52 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Great photos Paul!
barbhirsch (anonymous profile)
June 14, 2009 at 8:42 a.m. (Suggest removal)
THIS IS A FEATURE I HAVE AWAITED since the tragic "Jesusita" fire and concerns then at the Tejon Ranch Conservancy [in Kern County] on the status & health of "The Santa Barbara Four" at the SB Zoo! ;-) Looking forward to the forthcoming feature article on this topic, guys! WELL DONE! "Only in THE INDY"! ;-)
gogosian2001 (anonymous profile)
June 15, 2009 at 5 a.m. (Suggest removal)
terrific photos, Paul!
Matt, I hope in your future article you handle the tricky question of just how much government money has been spent to rescuscitate a dying species [how much spent per bird]? This is a "trophy" species and, in a sense, the program's "success" tends to mask how much biodiversity we are losing. Further, how many of these condors truly "live in the wild" and feed on carrion they find themselves, and how many actually eat those "beef popsicles" USFS personnel drop off out there...? I know by Lion Canyon these birds mainly eat what we humans put out there for them, since we can be sure it's lead-free. The issue is that maybe these beautiful birds are actually in a very large "zoo" -- and since humans have taken encroached/impacted most of their habitat it's a huge exaggeration to say they're BACK when it's actually a very controlled return, amazingly expensive, and perhaps those monies could be better spent rescuing scores of other species at much less cost. I know this isn't a very popular view.
DrDan (anonymous profile)
June 15, 2009 at 6:30 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Good points to research from DrDan. As a kid growing up in Santa Paula I remember taking jeep trips deep into the Sespe and up Hopper Mtn. just to go see these amazing birds (plus a few bears, some trout and many a snake). Anyway, the whole condor project is a touchy subject. Why do we spend millions of taxpayers dollars to help keep alive a species left over from the Pleistocene era when large abundant predators left plenty of carcasses for large carrion feeders to consume? Add to that the fact that condors were routinely killed by settlers and later ranchers back in the 1800s (blamed for killing young livestock when it was actually the golden eagles), habitat loss, don't forget the fashionable egg collecting days of the early 1900s, more habitat loss, DDT, lead bullets, did I say habitat loss? etc. I have to admit though, it has been a thrill for our family to have seen 3 in the last 3 years: 2 in the local backcountry and one soaring out over Pt. Conception. Sadly though, if left completely alone today- condors would continue to go extinct. So yes we are interfering with Nature with one big costly zoo experiment. Does it ever end? Maybe this one is just too much of a dead end to keep going...
LRaf (anonymous profile)
June 18, 2009 at 8:26 a.m. (Suggest removal)