128th California Condor Hatch at the Wild Animal Park!
Posted at 10:47 am March 20, 2006 by Joy DiGenti
After two nights of rain and a 70-hour struggle, the first California condor egg of 2006 hatched successfully on the morning of March 12 to clear skies and sunshine. The chick, of course, was not affected by the weather outside since it was inside a hatcher, at a toasty 97 degrees Fahrenheit (36 degrees Celsius). Even though condor parents will usually help their chick by breaking off pieces of shell, this chick, like many before it, broke out of the egg all on its own. The chick is being puppet-raised (photo shows it at two days old) and he or she is healthy, eating well, and seems to enjoy playing with a small condor feather in its isolette.
Condor keepers monitor hatching eggs every hour around the clock. On odd hours we do a " tape and tap" where we encourage the chick by playing a tape of vulture vocalizations and lightly tapping the egg with a tool made of a hanger and masking tape. On even hours we sample behaviors described in a focal egg ethogram (vocalizing, rocking, pushing, poking, nibbling, rotating, etc.).
For those of you interested in the statistics for this particular egg, it was laid on January 14 and pipped (broke the shell) 54 days later on March 9. The egg was about 4 inches (105 millimeters) long and was 2.6 inches (67 millimeters) wide. Eggs loose weight during incubation as water evaporates through the porous shell. This creates space for air at the tip of the egg, which is called an air cell. The weight of Egg 0601 (Shatash #1) was 9.5 ounces (271 grams) on the first day of incubation and 8.3 ounces (234.3 grams) on the pip date. This represents a 13.7 percent weight loss, within the target range for condors of 12 to 14 percent.
The first condor chicks of the season are puppet-raised because condors only raise one chick per year. When we remove the first egg from the condors' nest box, the female will often recycle, laying a second egg about 30 days later. The parents of our first chick, Sisquoc and Shatash, are incubating their second egg now. We are looking forward to observing that egg hatch next month on our new state-of-the-art digital cameras that can zoom in to see every little speck on the egg and chick! We owe our new camera system to all of you who donate to the Zoological Society of San Diego, as more than half of it is paid for with donation money. Thank you!
Joy DiGenti is a condor keeper at the Wild Animal Park.
Here's video of the chick!
Here's more information about the California Condor Recovery Program.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Scroll to the end to leave a comment. Pinging is not allowed.
March 20th, 2006 at 12:12 pm
Thank you, Joy, for the fascinating look into the condor nursery, and for the marvelous picture of baby bird and its surrogate mother. I can't imagine a more rewarding feeling than to be part of this team which has brought the California Condors back from the brink of extinction. I'm happy, as a member, that my donations may have played a very small role, and hope your blog will encourage many others. Do keep us up to date on future hatchings.
March 20th, 2006 at 1:03 pm
What a great posting! Really, really interesting - I learned so much! Having been lucky enough to visit the Wild Animal Park many times - it makes me even more appreciative of the amazing work you are doing to save the amazing birds! Thanks so much - and keep the updates coming.
March 21st, 2006 at 6:34 am
Thanks, Joy, for the interesting update. What a little cutie petutie fuzz ball. Just curious, will there ever be a time when this little one is introduced to his/her parents? Please keep the blogs and pictures coming.
March 22nd, 2006 at 7:50 am
Fascinating. I had no idea that adult birds " talked" to their eggs. The dedication of the condor team in taking the time to exactly mimic the actions of the adult birds speaks volumes about their committment to save the condors….and so does the newly hatched chick. My congratulations to all of the condor " Moms" and " Dads" who are raising it.
March 24th, 2006 at 3:07 pm
Thank you for all of your supportive comments! This chick will not be introduced to its parents because they will hopefully raise their second chick next month. Our puppet-raised chicks are fledged into an enclosure with a mentor bird and other fledglings when they are around five months old. Currently we have two adult condors that fill the role of mentor at the Wild Animal Park: Itaxmay (female, 10 years old) and MeyMey (male, 10 years old). The mentors do not live together, they are in separate facilities because our juveniles go to different release sites (CA & Baja), but they perform the same function for the young birds: they teach them how to be condors! It is important for them to learn how to survive in a social group to improve their success in the wild. Please refer to the Conservation and Research section of our Web site for more detailed information about our mentor program and condor social behavior: Conservation and Research (CRES), Projects, Sustainable Populations, Social Development and Reintroduction of California Condors. Thank you!
March 27th, 2006 at 1:13 am
What a wonderful video–the " acting" by the hand-puppet parent is really something to watch. Not to mention the realistic food dish (realistic for a carrion eater, that is!). What wonderful work you are doing there. Thanks.