California Condor introduction. FF 09
Lesson objective: To show the immense size of the California condor (gymnogyps
californianus), introduce vulture lifestyle and adaptations, and introduce the idea that
endangered species may decline from multiple causes, so that recovery maybe very
difficult and complicated.
Scope and sequence: Condor costume
Materials: Condor costume
Time: Preparation: 10 min. review
Lesson: 10-15
Anticipatory set:
Ask: “what is the largest flying land bird in California?”
Reply Hawks, eagles, ostriches, etc. (note – some water birds, eg. Swans are
bigger/heavier.)
Say: “The largest flying land bird in California, and the second largest in the world, is
the California condor (Andean condors are slightly larger). Let me show you how big it
is.”
Modeling:
Put on the costumes (Either the EV or three kids.) Show how the wings extend. “the
condor’s wingspan is 8 to 9.5 ft. For comparison the turkey vulture is about 6 feet and the
golden eagle up to 7.5 feet. The condor is about as big as a land bird can be and still fly.”
Ask:
“What kind of bird is the condor? What does it eat?”
Reply: Most will guess small animals.
Say:
“The condor is a New World vulture, and is closely related to the storks.
It is a carrion eater, which means it eats only dead animals.”
Ask:
“How does the condor find its food?”
Reply:
Try to elicit the response “Soaring”
Say
“Most large birds can soar. It is a very efficient way to fly, and can help
the bird cover large distances with little effort. For example Condors
routinely cross the Grand Canyon to the south rim for their release area on
the North Rim. In California, on Condor was located in the southern
Sierras, 300 miles from its release point in the Big Sur Wilderness.
Soaring works like this
Soaring depends on the presence of updrafts, either as air rises from a hill or cliff or in
thermals. Thermals are rising packets of warm, buoyant air produced when the sun heats
the ground. Thermals take a donut shape, with air rising in the middle and sinking on the
outer edge. The birds fly in circles on the rising air in the middle of the donut.”
Ask:
“What other birds soar that way.”
Reply:
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Hawks, other vultures, gulls, albatross, etc.
Soaring birds have special wings. They are either very long or slender, like
the wings of gulls and albatrosses, or they have wings with long outer
primary feathers, like the hawks or condors. These feathers separate when
soaring, so each acts like a long and slender small wing. Long and slender
wings limit the air disturbance the wings generate, which is good because
air disturbances cuts down on lift in the wings.”
“How else is the Condor adapted doe its life style?”
Elicit responses for powerful hooked beak, bear head and neck, bare legs.
“Why is the beak hooked and very powerful?”
To tear the flesh and skin and of carcasses.
“Why don’t the head and neck have feathers?”
“If the head had feathers, when the vulture stuck its head into a carcass it
would get covered in gore and be impossible to keep clean. All vultures
everywhere have evolved bare heads and necks. The sun on its bare skin
helps sanitize it.”
“Does the vulture need strong legs and feet?”
Most won’t think so, but will not know why.
“Hawks and owls have powerful feet and long claws to kill their prey.
Vultures eat only things that are already dead, so don’t need powerful
feet.”
“Can the Condor survive on ground squirrels and rabbits?”
Most will say that small animals are enough.
“Condors weigh up to 25 pounds, and need a lot of food. They need to
find large animals like elk, bears and deer to be successful.”
“The condor is an endangered species, with approximately 200 birds
now. We are going to talk about how it got that way, and its prospects for
the future.”
The California Condor evolved as the top avian scavenger on carcasses of very large
animals (megafauna). At the end of the last ice age, approximately 13,000 years ago, the
range of the California Condor stretched from Florida to the American Southwest and
northern Mexico, then northward along the coast into British Columbia. At that time
&sere were many large herbivores, such as Mastodons, Giant Elk, and Ground Sloths in
North America, and the Condors flourished, though they were probably never very
abundant. As the ice receded all of the largest herbivores quickly became extinct,
possibly from climate change, from hunting pressure by the expanding American Indian
populations, a combination of the two, or other causes. Deprived of megafauna carrion
the Condors began to decline. When the trappers reached the Columbia river in the 1700's
a few Condors still partook of the salmon die off following the spring run. When the
Spaniards settled the southwest they usurped valleys for farms and stock, reducing the
Condor's food and habitat. After the gold rush, agriculture and development quickly
fragmented the remaining Condor lands. In addition Condors fell victim to pollutants,
poisons and pesticides. By 1987 the population in the wild had dwindled to six birds in
the Sespe Condor Reserve north of Los Angeles. These were captured and placed in the
San Diego and Los Angeles zoos. A few years earlier captive Needing had begun at these
zoos using eggs taken from the wild birds (they lay another), and this was continued with
the birds brought in from the wild. This effort has been fairly successful, and beginning
in 1994 some of the strongest birds were released in southern California, then in Arizona.
As of late 2002 the total population was 199, with 77 living in the wild. Sadly, all three
chicks hatched in the wild in 2002
(the first from the releases begun in 1994) died from picking up poisons or trash from the
environment.
In spite of the rapid climb from a low of 27 birds (six in the wild and 21 captive) in 1986,
it is not clear that the California Condor will ever be out of danger. Habitats with a high
level of available large carrion year round are very limited now, and development is
rapidly encroaching on most remaining wild places. Poisons and pollutants in the
environment while perhaps at lower levels than 20 years ago, are still problems. Indeed
lead poisoning from bullet fragments ingested during feeding on carcasses or viscera left
by hunters is the biggest wild Condor threat, and all wild birds are captured and tested
regularly for lead in their blood. For the Condor to ever be considered truly independent,
mankind will have to do
CALIFORNIA CONDOR: Order Ciconfiformes (Stork/Heron) Family Cathartidae (New
world Vultures) Genus/species Gymnogyps Californianus
ANATOMY Weight 20 to 32 lbs. Wingspan 8 to 9.5 ft. Body 4 ft.
Adult. White bill. Bare head and neck orangish to pink. Eye red. Legs pink, weak.
Plumage black. White underwing lining. Grayish upper edges to inner secondaries. Imm:
Head, legs gray. Underwing lining light gray. Plumage dark brownish gray.
SEN5ES
Eyes: Excellent eyesight for food location.
Ears: No external ears. Hearing is fair
Nose: Poor sense of smell.
RANGE Historically from Fla. West along gulf to southwest, northern Mexico, then
north along coast to British Columbia. Range when removed from wild: Sespe
Mountains north of Los Angeles Re introduced ranges: Sespe reserve (Ca), Vermillion
Cliffs (Az), Big Sur (Ca).
HABITAT Forest, brush, hills, open lands. Any place with large animal carrion. Need
cliffs (rarely large trees) for nesting caves
DIET Carrion of large animals.
BEHAVIOR Locate food by soaring and visual search. Follow Turkey Vultures JUVU)
and usurp kills. Weapon is powerful curved beak. May carry carcass a short distance.
Communal roosts, often w/ TUVU. No nest. Egg laid on floor of cave, cliff ledge. Both
incubate (24 hour shifts). Fiercely defend eggs, young. Incubation 42 50 days. Young
fledge at 6 months, follow parents for 6 months.
IMPACT Large effort to reestablish wild population. Decline from multiple causes,
extinction of large wild herbivores in North America (mastodon, ground sloths), human
pollutants, pesticides and poisons, human occupation of huntable habitat, agricultural
protection of large herbivores. Few large areas with sufficient large
mammal populations remain.
OUTLOOK Most wild populations may be permanently dependent on man for
sufficient foods