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Ironwing's most excellent condor thread

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Condor Update 4/19/2023, forwarding from The Peregrine Fund -

A glimmer of hope arrived in Marble Canyon, Arizona over the past several days as emergency rescue teams took a breath and Vermilion Cliffs National Monument temperatures rose to 90 degrees. The unusually wet and cold winter conditions this year may have played a role in the occurrence and spread of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI). While our crews are ready to recover and address the needs of more sick birds at any time, new signs of infection in our flock have decreased and some of the birds in supportive care are showing signs of improvement.

As of April 17, 2023, 20 condors have died in the Arizona-Utah flock, and HPAI has been confirmed for 10 of those condors. Eight additional birds have been brought in for supportive care. Four of those condors died shortly after and are included in the total of 20 deceased birds. Four condors are still receiving supportive care and are seeing improvement.

The fight is far from over. Losses include 14 breeding-aged birds, 11 of which had recently been observed to be nesting or tending to young. In a matter of weeks, this event has set our recovery effort back a decade or more. Our science team is already analyzing emergency data to help define this long road to recovery. Before the outbreak of HPAI, the leading cause of death (accounting for 50% of confirmed mortalities) was lead poisoning. This new threat of HPAI, for which we do not yet have a solution (like a vaccine), highlights the need to address preventable and manageable threats, and rely even more heavily on proven strategies such as captive breeding to increase the wild population.

It's not appropriate to post donation links here but you know where to find them.

Edit: Bald eagles are being killed by the virus at a rate of about two per day.
 
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One infected condor pair had laid an egg before the female succumbed to the virus. The Peregrine Fund recovered the egg and the chick hatched on Tuesday. The chick is being kept in Phoenix for now until the biologists confirm that the chick doesn't carry the virus after which they will try to pair it with foster condor parents.

Video of chick:
www.facebook.com

On Tuesday, May, 9th, an egg of a female California condor who had succumbed to Avian Influenza, hatched. The hatchling is currently in a brooder at... | By Condor Cliffs | Facebook

6.872 views, 114 likes, 93 loves, 14 comments, 120 shares, Facebook Watch Videos from Condor Cliffs: On Tuesday, May, 9th, an egg of a female California condor who had succumbed to Avian Influenza,...
www.facebook.com www.facebook.com
 
IronWing said:
The condor chick is HPAI negative! She was sent to The Peregrine Fund's condor breeding facility in Boise, ID yesterday for fostering. The hope is that she will be released back to the wild in a year or two.
Click to expand...
The chick has new parents.
fb.watch

Our newest California condor, #1221, whose egg was found after her mother succumbed to HPAI, has been officially fostered by condors #27 (male) and #59... | By Condor Cliffs | Facebook

17.523 views, 593 likes, 282 loves, 14 comments, 78 shares, Facebook Watch Videos from Condor Cliffs: Our newest California condor, #1221, whose egg was found after her mother succumbed to HPAI, has...
fb.watch fb.watch

I love the looks the parents give each other, "WTF, how did this get here?", followed by a shrug and settling in to raise the chick.
 
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The condor chick is bonding well with its foster parents.
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Chick and father, photo from The Peregrine Fund.

The HPAI vaccine trial in black vultures continues. So far, no ill effects reported.
 
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The HPAI vaccine trial in black vultures appears to be a success. Trial for condors starts next week. Keep your fingers crossed, burn incense, chant to your god(s), praise the goddess, do the needful, send positive thoughts.

www.fws.gov

California Condor HPAI Response Update - July 14, 2023 | U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Incident Command Team, in collaboration with partner agencies, continues to develop and implement conservation strategies to help California condors in light of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI). Strategies include implementation of vaccine trials...
www.fws.gov www.fws.gov
 
Mr. 19 at Navajo Bridge. He is supporting a fledgling chick as a single dad after his mate was killed by the avian flu. Condor males share child rearing with the females: sitting on the egg, brooding the nestling, and feeding the fledgling until it can find food on its own. Overall, it takes about two years to raise a condor chick.

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Vaccine update: trial results promising, trial continues, captive condors will be vaccinated prior to release. Releases were on hold pending vaccine development to protect birds from flu. Releases will still be dependent on appropriate titer response to vaccine in each bird.

As for the wild population, the flu is expected to become more prevalent again with cooling temperatures. It is a race between vaccine development/testing/deployment and the next wave of the virus. Taking all of the wild condors into captivity is still on the table though it is definitely not an ideal solution. Condors are social birds and need companionship. Companionship spreads disease so figuring out how to isolate and group birds in a manner that doesn't stress out the birds or spread disease is not an easy task.

www.fws.gov

California Condor HPAI Response Update - October 16, 2023 | U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Incident Command Team, in collaboration with partner agencies, continues to develop and implement conservation strategies to help California condors considering Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI). Incident Update California Condor Vaccination Trial
www.fws.gov www.fws.gov
 
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My memorial to carry in last Sunday's All Souls Procession in Tucson:

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The wing tags are for the Arizona/Utah condors that died in the past year plus a few from 2021-22 that I had watched. Most were killed by the avian flu. The official crowd estimate is ~100k but that seems really high. My guess is that attendance was maybe 30k. In past years, the procession drew upwards of 150k but then the organizers changed the route to one that has no bars. 😛

 
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The Fish and Wildlife Service approved the HPAI vaccine for use in all condors, the first approval of the vaccine for any bird in the U.S. The logistics of vaccinating the wild population are being worked out. The vaccine requires two doses, 21 days apart. The wild birds will likely have to be held for the 21 days, which is really difficult for condors as breeding to fledging a condor chick takes about nine months and the parents still support the chick for a year after that so holding a breeding condor for 21 days isn't an option. The single dose vaccine may be approved later but is less effective.
www.fws.gov

California Condor HPAI Response Update - December 11, 2023 | U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service

This will be our final weekly report for 2023 unless circumstances with HPAI in the condor populations change. The Incident Command will provide another update in January 2024 when new information is available.
www.fws.gov www.fws.gov

Four more condors in the Arizona - Utah flock died in the past seven weeks, dropping the total population to ninety. None were reported as flu deaths so I don't know the causes. Lead poisoning is always a likely culprit, particularly during the fall hunting season. Condors can live sixty+ years so the death rate is far above natural.
 
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