After all of our work over DECADES to rescue the California Condor from the brink of extinction, this news is a gut punch. #Condors https://www.latimes.com/environment/story/2023-05-05/avian-flu-poses-new-threat-to-endangered-california-condors

"For over 2,000 years, Andean condors have been nesting — and pooping — in the same cliffside grotto high in the Andes. This gargantuan pile of guano is now providing an unprecedented peek deep into the birds’ past, revealing a surprising fidelity to raising chicks there even as the region changed dramatically."

https://www.sciencenews.org/article/poop-time-capsule-andean-condor

#Biology #Nature #SouthAmerica #Condors #Birds

2200-year-old #guano pile reveals historical adaptations by Andean #condors.

#coprogenomics #DNA #conservation #evolution

https://phys.org/news/2023-05-year-old-guano-pile-reveals-historical.html

Avian #flu kills 3 California #condors in northern Arizona.

#HPAI #H5N1

https://phys.org/news/2023-04-avian-flu-california-condors-northern.html

Avian #flu kills 3 California #condors in northern Arizona.

#HPAI #H5N1

https://phys.org/news/2023-04-avian-flu-california-condors-northern.html

#Avian #flu has killed 3 California #condors in northern #Arizona https://www.npr.org/2023/04/08/1168788132/avian-flu-california-condors-northern-arizona

RT @Ventana_WS
IT IS WITH A HEAVY HEART that we share with you that the Arizona-Utah population of CA #Condors is currently experiencing an #outbreak of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI). Our thoughts are with the @peregrinefund & our partners in #Arizona who manage this flock.

Andy N. Condor of Tracy Aviary is here to remind everyone of a wonderful Andean legend: "Once the condor enters your life, it will never leave."

We hope not, Andy. You have made friends for condors and vultures all over the world. 🖤

Photographer — probably Helen Dishaw; if not, then a member of the Tracy Aviary staff.

#Birds #BirdPhotography #BirdsOfMastodon #TracyAviary #Vultures #Condors #AndeanCondor

@birdwriter1

These Vulture Restaurants are such a brilliant idea and so wonderful. I am a great fan of #Vultures and #Condors and am thrilled to know that good care is being taken of these endangered (too-often critically endangered) birds.

#Birds #BirdsOfMastodon #ILoveVultures #BeautifulVultures

This is a seriously interesting page about the Andean condor. There's a beautiful little video, plus a link to a research study about flight performance in these large, heavy birds that spend 99% of their time soaring instead of flapping. Enjoy!

#Birds #Condors #Vultures

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/andean-condor-can-soar-100-miles-without-flapping-180975342/

A California Condor showing off the Horaltic Pose, common to all vultures and condors. The wide-winged stance helps dry and warm their wings, and the sunlight gets rid of parasites that may be in their feathers.

Photographer — Barbara Ash

#NationalBirdDay #BirdMafia #Birds #Condors #Vultures

I love countless bird species, but I would like to share my top favourites... just in case anyone wants to share their content with me. 😆

#Ravens
#Crows
#Vultures - all species, but #Condors are my top favourite
#Albatross - all species, but #WanderingAlbatross are my top favourite
#Kingfisher
#Shoebill

https://youtu.be/r77QwuPOYr8

And for those interested in #Condors, they're coming back to a Northern California forest near you (after a century).....

#birds #birding #wildlife

https://www.audubon.org/news/absent-more-century-california-condors-soar-above-redwoods-again

A winged friend flying over the #observatory. Today I went for a walk and saw a pai of #condors flying together. Didn't manage to record them before they split. One of them came back flying over me. #astronomy #AstronomerLife