Two more condors found dead

What's going on with the condors at Pinnacles? Two more were found dead this week. I suspect that these deaths are connected in some way, but there's little information in the press releases. One of the birds apparently died after hitting a power line , but lead poisoning can also slow a bird's reflexes and cause a bird to hit a power line. I suspect that lead is the culprit here, but no one is saying anything for sure yet. Here's the press release that Pinnacles issued for the second and third deaths:

Ventana Wildlife Society  Pinnacles National Monument

News Release


May 18, 2007
For Immediate Release
Carl Brenner, PNM (831) 389-4485 x 265
Kelly Sorenson, VWS (831) 455-9514



Two Additional California Condors Found Dead in Last Three Days


A four year old male California condor, #301 was found dead in Big


Sur on May 15, 2007. Ventana Wildlife Society biologist, Sayre Flannagan,


found 301 below a span of power lines and with a laceration on his leg.


“The way 301 was found suggests he had collided with the power line”, said


Sayre Flannagan. Pacific Gas and Electric had installed top-of-the-line


marking devices on this same power line last year after two condors had


previously collided with it and died. “If this is the cause of death, a


total of three condors have died after colliding with this particular line


and something more effective needs to be done”, said Kelly Sorenson,


Executive Director of Ventana Wildlife Society.


A second juvenile California condor from the Pinnacles National


Monument flock has also been found dead and was recovered in Big Sur,


California. On the evening of May 17, Ventana Wildlife Society biologists


received a ‘mortality signal’ from Pinnacles California condor #307 in the


Big Sur area. The signal comes from the bird’s radio transmitter which


activates a signal automatically after eight hours of no movement. The


next morning, Ventana biologists found Condor 307 dead of no obvious


cause. She is being transferred to the San Diego Zoo for a necropsy to


investigate the cause of death.


The last contact with 307 at Pinnacles was Saturday, May 5, 2007.


She arrived in Big Sur on Tuesday May 8 and their last visual sighting was


Monday, May 14.


“Condor 307 was a member of our oldest cohort, and has been tracked


routinely flying between Pinnacles and Big Sur,” National Park Service


(NPS) Superintendent Eric Brunnemann said. “Although the death of any


condor is a heartfelt sadness, the reintroduction of California condors is


a proven success as demonstrated by the birth of a wild-hatched condor


chick just last April in Big Sur,” Brunnemann continued.


From a population low of 22 birds in the mid 1980s, California


condors are making a slow, but steady recovery through intensive captive


breeding efforts and public education programs. As of April 30, 2007, 138


California condors are in the wild from a total population of 286. The


initial goal for California is to have 150 free flying condors in the


state. “Not including the wild nestlings, Central California had 40


free-flying California condors as of May 1, 2007, but we just lost three


birds”, said Kelly Sorenson. Pinnacles currently has 13 free-flying


California condors that are routinely visible at the monument, which hosts


the only public condor release in California.