Hello Tweeties!
This is just too much! I was rolling off my chair reading this one. And we
think we have problems with Canada Geese. And we think crows are getting
too "friendly". Imagine what the mountain resort town of Pine Mountain near
Bakersfield is going through......

http://www.bakersfield.com/top/i--1275213711.asp

For those who can't access the story and photo from the Bakersfield
Californian website, I'll paste a plain text copy. You don't want to miss
this one!

Lydia In Kent, WA lgaebe at msn.com
****************************************************************************
**

COCKSURE CONDORS (The Wrecking Crew!)
Filed: 09/09/1999

By BOB SABERHAGEN
Californian correspondent


PINE MOUNTAIN - When former Sierra Club national chairman Les Reid helped
pass the 1992 Condor Range and Rivers Act to provide habitat for the
endangered California condor, he never thought he would have them in his
bed.

Monday, while working at the computer in the downstairs den of his rustic
Pine Mountain home, the 84-year-old environmental activist heard noises
coming from the top floor.

There Reid was greeted by eight giant California Condors cavorting in his
bedroom. They had ripped through the screen door leading from an outside
deck of the hillside home nearly 6,000 feet above sea level.

One bird was carrying Reid's underwear around in his mouth, he said.

"It was a beautiful moment," said Reid. "They just stood there looking at
me. They weren't afraid of this old white-haired gentleman."

The group in Reid's bedroom was part of a gang of 15 young birds that
invaded the mountain community a week ago and decided to stay.

The 15 are among only 29 of the huge vultures flying free in California,
part of a recovering population that totals only 167 after nearly becoming
extinct in the 1980's.

Dubbed the "The Wrecking Crew" by biologists chasing them, the wandering
birds have spent the past few days making their presence well-known to
residents of the mountain community south of Bakersfield.

But so far, to the dismay of some residents, a team of biologists from the
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's California Condor Recovery Program has been
unable to chase the endangered birds back to the wild.

While many locals marvel at their graceful daily flights over the village,
others are not so pleased.

The giant vultures, averaging 20 pounds each with wingspans of 9 or more
feet, have been soaring from home to home at the higher elevations,
startling several occupants with destructive, noisy - and messy - visits to
their decks and rooftops.

Homeowners report the birds have destroyed patio furniture, potted plants
and insulated wires. They've also torn up roofing shingles while leaving
huge amounts of droppings in their destructive wake.

Recovery team members have been in hot pursuit, chucking pinecones at them
when they land, but the birds just flee from house to house.

Their apparent lack of fear toward humans has Fish and Wildlife biologists
concerned for the safety of the group. The birds were born in captivity in
San Diego and released over the past three years in Lion Canyon near New
Cuyama in northern Santa Barbara County.

"If they keep this up they could end up back in captivity," said biologist
Mike Barth who, with team partner Tom Williams, has spent the past several
days trying to convince the birds to leave the area and shy away from
contact with humans.

Pine Mountain resident Patti Fields resorted to squirting them with a garden
hose after they ignored her shouts, but they continue to return to her home
each time biologists flush them from another.

"I just scrubbed the deck the day before they first showed up," she said,
her nose wrinkled at the mess on her roof and wooden deck. "They sound like
an army marching across your roof."

The birds can drop a cup or more of excrement at a time, Williams said.

While undesirable, the group's behavior is not all that unusual. Condors
have in the past been known to frequent areas populated by humans.

"It's normal for juveniles to hang out together and they have a tendency to
tear things up," Williams said.

This group recently spent some time in the Stallion Springs area of
Tehachapi, where Fish and Wildlife workers are presently going door to door
telling people not feed or encourage them. They have also visited homes near
Lake Cachuma.

Recovery program officials said they are being tolerant - for now.

"We're hoping that when they start breeding they'll stop this kind of
behavior," said Deputy Project Coordinator Greg Austin. "We don't want to
see these birds doing these things. Right now we're giving them some slack."

Austin said the birds, ranging in age from 2 to 5 years old, will reach
sexual maturity at age 6.

Only 167 California condors are in existence today. They were near
extinction in 1987 when the last of 22 remaining wild birds were captured
and placed in a captive breeding program. So far, 49 condors have been
released to the wild since 1992, when the first 13 were released. Twenty of
those are presently in Arizona with the remaining 29 in California.

Ideally, biologists prefer the California-released birds remain within the
467,000 acres of habitat in the Los Padres National Forest provided for them
in the Condor Range and Rivers Act.

Outside the wilderness the birds face a host of urban dangers. Condors have
died drinking anti-freeze, by electrocution after landing on power poles,
and others have become ill eating carrion containing lead bullets.

Many of the problems have been solved by using aversion training methods,
including use of mock power poles that jolt them with a low voltage shock.

But this group of juveniles seems to have forgotten lessons taught in the
negative conditioning classes, especially the portion regarding fear of
humans.

Among other perils they face here is the possibility they might collide with
power lines during their low-level flights through the community.

"They can spread their wings and electrocute themselves," Barth said.

Austin said efforts to train the birds are being thwarted by well-meaning
people who feed and encourage their presence.

Officials ask that residents stay at least 100 feet away from them.

"If they approach, clap your hands and yell to scare them off," said
Williams.

Above all, don't feed them, he stressed.

Williams said condors normally feed up to twice weekly on the carcasses of
deer, cattle and other large, dead animals found in the wilderness.

Officers said they will continue attempts to persuade the birds to leave the
area where their activities will be constantly monitored.

"We're going to keep tabs on them, document where they go and what they're
feeding on," Williams said. "We just want to keep them out of trouble," he
added.






Copyright 1999, The Bakersfield Californian | Email the Webmaster
Associated Press Copyright Notice | Privacy Policy Statement









begin 666 Cocksure condors.url
M6T1%1D%53%1=#0I"05-%55),/6AT=' Z+R]W=W<N8F%K97)S9FEE;&0N8V]M
M+W1O<"]I+2TQ,C<U,C$S-S$Q+F%S< T*#0I;26YT97)N9713:&]R=&-U=%T-
M"E523#UH='1P.B\O=W=W+F)A:V5R<V9I96QD+F-O;2]T;W O:2TM,3(W-3(Q
G,S<Q,2YA<W -"DUO9&EF:65D/3(P1#DX-D)",#=&0T)%,#%&0PT*
`
end