Ventana Wildlife Society

Mike Wallace was a friend, colleague and mentor and will be greatly missed. He did so much for the recovery of the California Condor and so many other species.

#Iniko Many of you have watched the incredible story of Iniko, the baby condor who survived the Dolan Wildfire but lost his father, 167 Kingpin. In his absence, a territorial male harassed Iniko out of the nest while the mother 190 Redwood Queen protected Iniko. The Ventana Field Crew was concerned for Iniko due to an apparent leg injury and spending the night on the ground, which is a vulnerable position for a young condor. On Monday morning, Joe Burnett, Darren Gross, Evan McWreath, and Stephanie Herrera carried out this exhausting rescue of Iniko and was then taken to the Los Angeles Zoo for treatment. While we have a heavy heart for Redwood Queen, we had to protect Iniko and give him or her a chance at life in the wild again next year.

"Iniko", which means "born in troubled times" could not be more apropos given what this California Condor has gone through. Hatched on April 25, 2020 and raised by the two most prominent condors in the Big Sur flock, life was good. Then a massive wildfire burned through the Condor's Big Sur Sanctuary on August 20, 2020 and although Iniko and the mother, Redwood Queen #190, survived the fire, Iniko's father, Kingpin #167, has not returned. Redwood Queen struggles to feed Ini...ko and protect him since she cannot be in two places at once. On October 16, up and coming 6-year-old male condor Ninja #729, decides to move in on Kingpin's territory and harrass Iniko, forcing Iniko to leave the nest. Fortunately for Iniko, Redwood Queen is one tough mother, and since Iniko was nearly six months old at the time, Iniko was ready to leave the nest anyway. Nearly six months after hatching, Iniko starts life outside of the nest. Godspeed Iniko! See more

Seven condors raised at San Diego Zoo Global are now being held for release in San Simeon, California as part of the Ventana Wildlife Society’s ongoing recovery effort for the California Condor. They were transferred on October 7 and will be released in mid-November, adding to the wild population in central California. This could not come at a better time after such devastating losses in 2020. On August 20 and 21, the Dolan Fire destroyed the Condor’s Big Sur Sanctuary. Nin...e free-flying condors went missing since the Dolan Fire, as well as two chicks in nests perished, adding to several others that had died earlier in the year. All condors released by Ventana Wildlife Society are given names and a bio page on the website. This year’s group of seven condors are being named by descendants of indigenous peoples of the central California coast. We wish to thank our collaborators from the Esselen Tribe of Monterey County and members of the Rumsen and Salinan tribal communities, all of which inhabited the region where condors are being restored to the wild today. See the names and hear their pronunciations here: https://www.ventanaws.org/condor-releases.html

The Condor Nest Cam, powered by explore.org, is back online after being destroyed by the Dolan Fire. Amazingly, baby Condor Iniko survived the fire and is seen here today sunning his or her wings at the entrance of the redwood tree nest. Watch Iniko until he or she fledges from the nest this fall! https://www.ventanaws.org/condor_cam.html

Yesterday, we were able to restore our live-streaming camera at the Condor’s Big Sur Sanctuary! Huge thanks to explore.org for so quickly replacing the equipment that was damaged when the Dolan Fire destroyed the sanctuary on August 20-21. The Ventana Wildlife Society field staff were super excited to install it yesterday. We hope to have the nest cam operational to check on Iniko soon. Viewers can now see for themselves the damage caused by the Dolan Fire and hopefully... condors returning to the sanctuary. While the Dolan Fire continues to burn, firefighters have battled to reach 85% containment. To recap, there are nine free-flying condors that have been missing since the fire. Two chicks perished in their nests, but two others including Iniko survived. A fifth chick was saved when it was evacuated and taken to Los Angeles Zoo for future release. Now that the camera is restored, Ventana Wildlife Society biologists are once again able to remotely monitor the flock. We invite you to join us! Although we don’t want to get our hopes up, we will surely keep our eyes open for any of the missing condors to appear on camera. We are also staying encouraged and optimistic because of the support of people like you. Our campaign to raise $500,000 to rebuild the Sanctuary is going well, and we are so grateful to all who have donated so far. While we rebuild the facilities, we will also rebuild the flock through releases of captive-bred condors to the wild. As a start, we are preparing for the release of seven new condors in San Simeon this fall. More on that coming soon.

A few days ago, we reported our concern for Iniko, one of the condor chicks that survived the Dolan Fire. It appeared that Iniko had not been eating well and was lethargic. While we were contemplating various possible ways to rescue this chick, Evan McWreath a VWS biologist, hiked to the nest today to check on Iniko and was thrilled to see what he found. Today, Evan saw that Iniko had recently been fed! Evan knew this due to the crop entirely full on the chick’...s chest. This crop is used to store food for later digestion and is the first place food goes after ingestion. This tell-tale sign means Iniko is not only still being cared for by his mother, Redwood Queen, but that he or she is fighting to stay alive. This food will give Iniko the energy he or she needs to continue being fed by Redwood Queen and hopefully get to fledge with the rest of the flock. Thank you for your suggestions, support and concerns.

Many of you have been asking about Iniko, the baby condor who survived the Dolan Fire. We have been concerned for Iniko’s well-being after we observed that Iniko’s mother, Redwood Queen, was away from the nest for an extended period of time. Our field biologists hiked to the burned redwood tree to more closely observe Iniko and Redwood Queen. What they saw was very concerning. Iniko did not beg for food from Redwood Queen. This is troubling because Condor ...parents are triggered to feed their chicks by the chick’s begging. Further, Iniko was low in energy. We immediately kicked into gear to assess a possible rescue but the redwood tree where Iniko is located was badly damaged by the fire. Climbing experts strongly caution against ascending this tree in its compromised condition. So as difficult as this is, we cannot proceed with a rescue attempt and put human life at risk. We are comforted that Redwood Queen is still trying to care for Iniko and that Iniko is still standing. Additionally, we are hopeful that condor chick #1030 is likely doing well as its mother, #550, has been repeatedly visiting the nest as determined by her GPS transmitter. Despite ongoing search efforts, nine condors are still missing and it appears they were lost in the fire. We will continue to search for these condors. However, our hopes are diminishing.

We are saddened to share the news that two of the five condor chicks previously reported as being in harm’s way have perished in the Dolan Fire. Three of the five condor chicks survived, including Iniko, as well as chick #1033, who was rescued from a cliff’s nest that was directly in the path of the fire’s advance. Iniko was named by the public while viewers around the world watched this chick and its parents on a live-streaming camera provided by explore.org. While the l...oss of every California condor is tragic, we are also seeing the remarkable resiliency of the next generation of condor chicks. There are still nine missing free-flying condors since the time of the fire on August 21, 2020 but we remain hopeful. As a reminder, the Dolan Fire was started by arson and not a natural event. As the condor population continues to grow and their range continues to expand, catastrophic fire events like this one are less likely to have a significant impact on their recovery. Thanks to Condor Recovery Program partners, releases of new condors raised in zoos will continue despite the loss of the Condor’s Big Sur Sanctuary. A new cohort of nine condors will be transferred to central California next month and seven of these will be released in San Simeon, California and the other two condors at Pinnacles National Park.

Les Lo Baugh, Jr. tells his story of writing the Endangered Species Act and seeing it come into law while working for Senator Alan Cranston. Les shares personal stories that shaped who he is and how he became so passionate about wildlife and the great birds - eagles, falcons, condors and other birds of prey. Kelly Sorenson, executive director, was thrilled to have the opportunity to meet Les and record an introduction. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJOvB7v3MtI&feature=youtu.be

Feathers, our online auction, closes at 8:00PM tonight. If you haven't already, register and then receive a zoom link for a live presentation at 4:00PM by LA Zoo condor keeper, Michael Clark, along with "Dolly" the condor and a really handsome king vulture too!

In addition to finding nestling condor "Iniko" alive on Wednesday, we are also happy to report that chick, #1033 was saved from her nest, where she was in a cliff cavity directly in the path of the advancing Dolan fire line. This is now the fifth condor nest affected by this wildfire. Working quickly with our longtime partners at the US Fish and Wildlife Service and Pinnacles National Park, the VWS-Pinnacles field team heroically saved chick #1033 and delivered her to the ...Los Angeles Zoo where she will spend the next year until ready to be released back into the wild and reunited with her flock. Chick #1033, age 4 months, has been relying on only her father, Puff Daddy #219, as her mother Wild 1 231 disappeared last May. Fortunately, there was time to plan and execute a successful operation that was deemed necessary in this case. #livetoflyanotherday

The Dolan Fire burned the Condor's Big Sur Sanctuary on August 19 and 20, 2020. Condor Nestling "Iniko" lived through it. His father, Condor 167 "Kingpin" remains missing but his mother "Redwood Queen" continues to care for "Iniko". Help us Rebuild and Restore at www.ventanaws.org