California鈥檚 rampant wildfires have claimed an icon of conservation biology: a condor chick, burned in its nest at Big Sur, on the Pacific coast south of Monterey.
Officials with the have yet to regain access to the site from which they have been reintroducing captive-bred California condors (Gymnogyps californianus) since 1997.
The team now fears that the fire may have also destroyed their field lab and cabin, as well as the pens used to hold birds prior to release.
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鈥淲e don鈥檛 know what, if any, loss we have with our structures, but the fire burned our canyon,鈥� Kelly Sorenson, the society鈥檚 executive director, told 快猫短视频 on Monday. 鈥淥ne condor nest burned with a chick inside.鈥�
Thankfully, Sorenson and his team had enough warning to arrange a rescue for eight condors in the holding pens.
Unscheduled flight
Road access to the site was cut off on 21 June, after lightning strikes ignited fires in the area.
The following day, the US Coast Guard provided a helicopter, and the condors were airlifted out in crates (see a ). The birds will be held at another release site at the , about 60 kilometres inland.
All the free-flying condors in Big Sur, which carry radio transmitters, seem to be safe. But nothing could be done to protect the three condor nests in the area, one of which was burned by the fire.
The death of the chick in that nest is especially poignant, as reintroduced condors bred successfully for the first time at Big Sur only last year.
Population boost
快猫短视频 visited the site in February 2007, just as the breeding season was beginning. As we watched from the cabin, about a dozen adult condors were wheeling around the release area.
Later, on the four-wheel-drive track back to the coast road, Sorenson and I spotted one pair apparently scouting for a nest site.
Since releases of captive-bred condors began in Southern California in 1992, the wild population has grown to about 150, in California, Arizona and Mexico鈥檚 Baja California peninsula.
Updates on the Big Sur fire are available .
Endangered species 鈥� Learn more about the conservation battle in our comprehensive special report.
