El Cóndor Pasa: Endangered Birds Trapped by Big Sur Timber Fire Back in Wild
Two California condors who had been trapped in a Big Sur sanctuary during the Timber Fire were freed Tuesday after fire officials escorted staff to open their pen, the Ventana Wildlife Society said.
The condors, the largest North American land birds, were recovering after receiving treatment for lead poisoning at the Big Sur Condor Sanctuary, which rehabilitates the endangered species and has helped grow the state’s population.
“Thankfully, as of yesterday afternoon, we took care of the primary concern, which was getting those two birds back out into the wild,” said Kelly Sorenson, the Wildlife Society’s executive director.
Shortly after the Timber Fire broke out Saturday night, it engulfed the single access road to the condor sanctuary. At the time, the condors, referred to as 868 and 340, were being held in a pen which Wildlife Society employees could no longer access.
Sorenson said the birds went days without fresh water or food
“They were trapped, essentially,” he told KQED.
On Tuesday afternoon, Cal Fire escorted the Wildlife Society’s senior wildlife biologist, Joe Burnett, to the sanctuary, where he was able to release the birds.
“Both condors, just recovered from lead poisoning thanks to the Oakland and Los Angeles Zoos, flew off well and are back where they belong,” the Ventana Wildlife Society posted in an update on its website.
While the pair of condors are now safe, Sorenson said wildfires in the region pose a risk to the condor population and other wildlife that makes their habitat in the vast Ventana Wilderness, which covers more than 100,000 acres in the Los Padres National Forest.
“In the short term, you’ve got air quality issues, there’s direct impacts to animals that just get burnt over,” Sorenson said.
In 2020, a dozen critically endangered condors, including two chicks, were killed during the Dolan Fire, which broke out about a mile from the Condor Sanctuary. Across the world, there are about 600 condors, up from just 27 in the 1980s, according to the Wildlife Society.
“We’ve been able to build up a wild population that now stands around 106 individuals,” since the Big Sur Sanctuary opened 30 years ago, Sorenson said. “They’re scattered all throughout central California from Big Sur down into San Luis Obispo County, all throughout San Benito County [and] Pinnacles National Park. The flock is really expanding its range, growing in number.”
Active fires can also interfere with condor nesting and endanger the animals’ lives if they are caught in flames or thick smoke in the middle of the night when they’re sleeping.
Sorenson said that not all wildfire is bad for animal populations — while it burns vegetation, that can sometimes create more optimal conditions. Many California condors have made their nests in the cavities of coastal redwood trees that previous blazes have created.
“There’s definitely pros and cons,” Sorenson said. “But what’s really devastating is the size, the intensity and the frequency [of the fires]. They’re happening all too often, and they’re all too big.”
The Dolan Fire burned more than 125,000 acres less than a decade ago, and in the last twenty years, there have been two other large wildfires that blazed in the Los Padres National Forest.
“These are giant, massive fires that just completely changed the vegetative landscape,” he said.