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Press release via the Yurok Tribe’s Facebook:

This week, three young prey-go-neesh (California condors) took their first free flights over Yurok ancestral territory.

At 3 p.m. [Wednesday], C8 (studbook 1329) left the Northern California Condor Restoration Program (NCCRP) flight pen. Just before 10 a.m. [Tuesday], F0 (studbook 1355) and F2 (studbook 1376) quickly darted out of the release facility.

“The first two birds have already made it back to the facility. F0 has flown between trees landing solidly and returned to the site to feed. She later flew off and landed on a known roosting tree. They’re doing phenomenal,” said Chris West, a Yurok Wildlife Department Senior Biologist and the NCCRP’s Manager.

F0 and F2 were the first released of seven condors brought in this year from San Diego Zoo Safari Park. It was the second largest cohort of condors in NCCRP history.

The three male and four female birds were joined by mentor B4 in the flight pen while they acclimated to the North Coast.

The NCCRP is employing a flexible approach to the next round of releases and may attempt to set another bird free as early as this weekend if conditions allow. When the releases are complete, there will be 31 free-flying condors over Northern California redwoods.

This was the first cohort NCCRP received from San Diego Zoo Safari Park, which delivered the birds in mid-July and helped NCCRP biologists and technicians, along with veterinarians from Sequoia Park Zoo, intake them, removing existing placeholder wing tags from the condors, attaching new NCCRP wing tags with local identifiers, and providing intravenous fluid to help the birds recover from the long drive from San Diego.

Over the past month, NCCRP staff monitored the condors’ acclimatization to their new surroundings and installed new GPS and radio transmitters on their wing tags to ensure the team could effectively monitor the birds after their release. The birds are faring exceptionally well in their new environment. Many of the other older free-flying condors had visited the pen to watch and interact with the new birds before they were released.

About the Northern California Condor Restoration Program

The Northern California Condor Restoration Program is a collaboration between the Yurok Tribe and Redwood National and State Parks (NPS). The NCCRP is part of the California Condor Recovery Program, which is an international multi-entity effort, led by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, to recover the endangered California condor by establishing robust self-sustaining populations of condors within the historical distribution. The Yurok Tribe initiated the Pacific Northwest condor reintroduction effort in 2008.

To support the condor restoration effort, please visit https://www.yuroktribe.org/yurok-condor-restoration-program

Note: for the Yurok Condor Live Feed, click here.