March 10, 2010

Proud parents of a small egg


California Condor country: Sunset at the Pinnacles National Monument, by StefanB on Flickr.

This story is great, and the headline rocks: Calif condor couple lays first egg at Pinnacles National Monument in more than a century. Congratulations to the happy couple!
A female released in 2004 in the Central California park and a male released the same year 30 miles west at Big Sur had been observed engaged in courtship behavior earlier this year, park spokesman Carl Brenner said.

"They are now the proud parents of a small egg," Brenner said.

Biologists confirmed the presence of the egg after hiking to the site on Friday.

In 1982, the last 22 California condors were placed in a captive breeding program. Today, there are 348 in the world, with about 180 flying free at three locations in California and at the Grand Canyon in Arizona. Another dozen are in Baja California.

The goal is to have 450 birds in three distinct populations, with 15 breeding pairs in each group.
Read it all here.

Above left: Condor buddies, by Doug Greenberg on Flickr.

1 comment:

Heather Houlahan said...

Good thing the fine citizens of the LDS California made sure that no GAY condors could besmirch the institution of condor marriage with their non-egg-producing alternative glidestyles.

I am not responsible for what my brain stem says to my fingers when I'm this tired.