Condor

The BIG news this spring at the Quito Ecuador Zoo was the birth of a baby Andean Condor.  The baby is being raised for release into the wild.  No human has touched the wee bird and I understand finger puppets   were used to help avoid such contact.  Several condors have been successfully released by professionals who strive to save the species.  Estimates are that 30 to 50 condors remain on the wing today.

The Andean Condor is the national bird of a half dozen Latin American countries including Ecuador.  The bird is a bit shorter beak-to-tail than its California counterpart but spreads its wings up to 10.5 feet to make it the largest flying land bird in the Western Hemisphere.  Adults can weigh over 30 pounds.

Only one person I have met has ever seen an Andean Condor in the wild. They soar at 15,000 feet and nest in mountainsides at 5,000 or so feet.  Their breastbones/sterna are rather 'flimsy' for such huge birds which is the cause or effect of the fact that they are soarers rather than 'wing flappers.'

Farmers historically have hunted condors based on the mistaken belief that the birds prey on their livestock.  In fact, the birds feed on carcasses and thereby help sanitize the mountains where they live. Loss of habitat via human encroachment is the other big reason the species is so threatened.

I have seen the two parents of the new baby three times at the Quito Zoo.  They are enormous creatures; featherless above the shoulders, and topped by huge, floppy, dark red combs.  Further, they are bearded by more dark red, dangling wattles.  In a word, UGLY...at least in the face!

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