Its huge 3-metre (10 ft.) wingspan, makes the California condor (Gymnogyps californianus) the largest flying bird in North America. It has a big black body with white triangles under its wings and a red-orange bald head. The forests and rocky shrubland and oak savannas of California, Mexico are its territory.
This New World vulture soars on thermal air currents, and can reach speeds of 88 km/h (55mph) and heights of 4,600 m (15,000 ft.). It travels far and wide, covering as much as 150 miles a day in search of dead animals to scavenge – cattle, deer, sheep rodents and rabbits. And flying at great heights, these birds rely solely on their keen eyesight to find food. Their sense of smell is poor. Most of the time, when they spot groups of other scavengers tearing away at a carcass, these birds descend and use their size to scare away the others. Being big birds, they have big appetites too and can eat over 1 kg of food all at one go, and then go for days without eating anything at all.
California condors are uniquely adapted to be Nature’s scavengers. They have a strong immune system, and therefore don’t get sick when feasting on carrion (dead animal flesh) which must invariably be laden with bacteria. Although they do not have sharp talons, they use they powerful, curved beaks to tear at carcasses. These birds are bald-headed and with good reason. They push their heads deep into rotting carcasses – a face full of feathers would be difficult to clean! After their meal, California condors bathe and spend a lot of time preening their feathers. If water is hard to find, they clean their heads and necks by rubbing them on grass, rocks, and branches.
At 6-8 years old, they start to breed. Once they find a mate, the pairs perform acrobatic flights together. Usually, a pair stays together. Usually, a pair stays together for a lifetime which may last as long as 60 years. Caves, rock crevices, or large trees (like redwoods or sequoias) are their resting places and they their eggs there. They do not build nests but instead just lay the egg directly on the floor of the cave, cavity or tree hollow. They sometimes move rocks around with their beak to ensure better protection of their homes. Condors, like other vulture species, are social birds that share food and spend time resting near one another.
Every two years, the female will lay just a single egg. If it disappears for some reason, she lays a replacement of rearing the young. They alternate in incubating the egg for a few days at a time. Once the chick hatches, they take turns to feed it and keep it warm. At 5-6 months, the fledging practises flying, and by two years, the juvenile is ready to live life independent of its parents.
Conservation
- Once ranging from Canada to Mexico along the western coast, California condors neared extinction in the late 1970s, with only a few birds left.
- Biologists managed to track all of them and bring them under a captive breeding programme. When these efforts succeeded, the birds began to be released back into the wild.
- However, the California condor is still considered critically endangered and is on the IUCN Redlist.
- They still face threats from poison ingestion, especially lead poisoning from hunters’ bullets left in carcasses. Other threats include illegal egg collection, habitat loss, and power lines.
Picture Credit : Google