A rare condor hatched and raised by foster parents in captivity will now live in the wild

No matter how you look at it, Milagra, the “miracle” California condor, cannot be alive today.

But now, at about 17 months old, she is one of three giant, endangered birds set to take flight in the wild as part of a release near the Grand Canyon this weekend.

Even after the doors opened on Saturday, the birds did not immediately leave their cages. After 20 minutes, one condor left the enclosure, and another 20 minutes later another fledged.

After being in the enclosure for about an hour and 20 minutes, Milagra left the enclosure and took off. When the wildlife release livestream ended, the fourth condor remained in the cage and was not ready to leave. For Milagra, there is no more fitting name for a young bird that has survived against all odds. Her mother died in the worst bird flu outbreak in U.S. history shortly after she laid the egg, and her father nearly succumbed to the same fate while struggling to keep the egg warm on his own.

Milagra, which means miracle in Spanish, was rescued from a nest and hatched in captivity thanks to the care of condor foster parents.

The emergency surgery was part of a program established nearly 40 years ago to bring the birds back from the brink of extinction, when their numbers plummeted to fewer than 20 individuals.

The Peregrine Foundation and the Bureau of Land Management streamed the release of the birds online Saturday from Vermilion Cliffs National Monument, about 50 miles (80 kilometers) from the North Rim of the Grand Canyon.

Condors have been released since 1996, but the annual release was suspended last year due to so-called “avian flu.” Highly pathogenic avian influenza has killed 21 condors in flocks in Utah and Arizona.

“Condor releases this year will be particularly impactful given the losses we experienced from HPAI and lead poisoning in 2023,” said Tim Hawk, California Condor Program Director at the Peregrine Foundation.

It is estimated that as many as 360 birds currently live in the wild, some in the Baja region of Mexico and most in California, where similar releases continue. More than 200 other people are living in captivity.

With a wingspan of 9.5 feet (2.9 meters), the condor is North America’s largest land bird and has been protected as an endangered species in the United States since 1967. Many conservationists consider it a miracle that condors still exist.

Vermilion Cliffs Monument Manager Robert Bate said the release was “so that the scope and scope of this incredibly successful collaborative recovery effort can continue to inspire people around the world.” He said it will be shared online in real time.

California condors mate for a lifetime of up to 60 years, can migrate up to 200 miles (322 kilometers) a day, and have been known to shuttle between Grand Canyon National Park and Zion National Park.

The Peregrine Falcon Foundation began breeding condors in 1993 in collaboration with federal wildlife managers. The first condor was released into the wild in 1995, and it took another eight years for the first chick to hatch from captivity.

The foundation’s biologists typically do not name the birds they help raise in captivity, instead identifying them with numbers to avoid giving them any human characteristics out of respect for the species.

We made an exception for #1221, also known as Milagra. They saw her itinerary as symbolic of the captive breeding program coming full circle.

Milagra’s foster father, No. 27, was hatched in the wild in California in 1983. He was one of the first chicks brought into the program, when fewer than 20 birds were known to exist in the world.

Convinced that it was the only hope for the species’ survival, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service made the then-unprecedented and risky decision to capture the remaining 22 known to exist in order to begin a breeding program. I put it down. Over time, it has grown with support from the Oregon Zoo, Los Angeles Zoo, and San Diego Zoo Safari Park.

“They realized that California condors were great parents in captivity, so they allowed them to raise their own species,” said Leah Esquivel, breeding manager at the foundation’s World Raptor Center in Boise, Idaho. I started it,” he said.

Like all California condors currently in the wild, Milagra’s biological parents were a product of this program.

Milagra’s mother, #316, laid a softball-sized egg in April 2023 in a cave on the edge of a cliff in Arizona. This is one of her last acts before dying of bird flu. Her biological father #680 was ill and tried his best to care for the egg, but her chances of survival were dwindling. So when the condor made a rare departure from its nest, biologists monitoring the sick condor swooped in and snatched away its only egg.

“(He) was so focused on incubating his eggs that he had no intention of risking his life and setting out to find food and water on his own,” said Jessica Schlerbaum, a spokeswoman for the Peregrine Falcon Foundation. There wasn’t,” he said.

They hid the fragile eggs in an outdoor incubator and raced 300 miles (480 km) to Phoenix. This is no different from a human transplant team transporting a heart in an icebox.

To everyone’s surprise, the egg hatched.

Milagra tested negative for avian influenza and spent about a week at the Liberty Wildlife Rehabilitation Center in Mesa, Arizona, before being taken to the foundation’s breeding facility in Idaho and placed in foster care.

Breeding manager Esquivel said Milagra’s adoptive mother, No. 59, raised eight chicks in her lifetime.

Esquivel described #59 as unique. This bird does not mate, but performs all other breeding activities and lays eggs each year.

“Her eggs are obviously infertile, but she’s a great mother, so we’re using her and her mate to raise our children,” Esquivel said. “We replace the unfertilized eggs with dummy eggs, and when the hatched eggs are ready, we place them in the nest.”

Milagra’s adoptive father has fathered about 30 chicks and has helped raise them in captivity over the years.

After spending about seven months in foster care, the youngsters head to a “condor school” in California where they are taught the basics of communal eating, building flight muscles, getting along with fellow condors, and more. Learn.

Saturday’s release of this year’s graduating birds was a “moment of triumph” for biologists, recovery partners, volunteers and all those who have worked hard over the past year, Hauck summed up.

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