The Condor Chat- Ventana Wildlife Society May 28, 2026

Added: 2026-05-30

[00:00:30]The YouTube live is streaming.

[00:00:39]Let me know, Kelly, when you want to kick off.

[00:00:48]>> Yeah, I think you could kick it off anytime.

[00:00:51]>> [clears throat and cough] >> All right.

[00:01:11]>> [music] [music] >> Hello and welcome everybody. My name is Kelly Sorenson and I'm the Montana Wildlife Society and the executive director. And of course you're here with us on our monthly condor chat, which is typically held in the last Thursday of the month.

[00:01:39]A great place to hear directly from the field crew and how the birds are doing out in the field. Montana Wildlife Society has been releasing California condors out of our breeding facility since the very first two birds in 1982 and work had already begun before we got started in 1997.

[00:01:58]And now almost 30 years later, we've learned a tremendous amount. And the Central California flock where we're focused has grown to well over 100 individuals.

[00:02:08]I I won't say the exact number because Joe's going to correct me here in a little while.

[00:02:13]But we're we're constantly working with these birds, as you know, releasing them to the wild, uh caring for their well-being after the release, whether that involves medical treatment or monitoring their nests, tracking their movements, managing all that data. And of course, our top priority today, the non-lead outreach program. And it's so important because we now understand that lead poisoning is the number one cause of mortality in California condors and is the primary reason why they haven't become self-sustaining yet.

[00:02:49]It's certainly not the condors' fault.

[00:02:51]We all know that. These birds have had everything but the kitchen sink thrown at them. And yet they have survived.

[00:02:58]They have survived uh through so much.

[00:03:01]It's it's just unbelievable. Um And anyway, so that's kind of the spirit of of what the Condor Chat's all about, to to share our experiences as they occur in real time, unfiltered.

[00:03:15]Um We've been talking a lot about uh Save the Condors. Uh in fact, the the campaign Save the Condor campaign which we launched last year when we learned that uh the federal government uh was temporarily going to stop funding a portion of our work. Uh we've been primarily funding the work that we do uh through private sources, you know, through private support almost entirely for that entire time. And just the last 5 years, we received some federal support. And then it was uh you know, taken away, hopefully temporarily. And so we launched this save the condor campaign last year. It was very successful and many of you contributed to that and thanks again. And here we are in 2026 also kicking off that same campaign name but in a new year.

[00:04:10]And to do that this year we we are having feathers in flight a fundraising event.

[00:04:17]It has two main components. It's it's in person as well as having an online auction. The auction is entirely online.

[00:04:26]So even in the on even in the in person event any will have some some items there but it's all being handled through the online auction. So if you register for the online auction auction which by the way launched just 4 minutes ago. So it is completely live as of 4 minutes ago.

[00:04:48]Bids are now available to be made on all of those wonderful items that are there.

[00:04:55]And everyone who registers for the event or attends the event buying a ticket on June 7th for that portion will get entered into a random draw to go up to the condor sanctuary with me to go see the birds and to go see our property up there.

[00:05:11]We have so many wonderful items that you can see in some of these pictures. We have fantastic sponsors who donated many of those items.

[00:05:21]Some of those sponsors I just want to mention Post Ranch Inn, Bladen Talon Wine, Alvarado Street Brewery or brewing company. I'm sorry.

[00:05:32]And also the [clears throat] Well, let's see. Do we have a sponsor list up here? I'd like to see it makes sure I don't miss anybody. Think it's toward the end there.

[00:05:44]>> [snorts] >> Yes, thank you. So of course, it's it's uh Hidden Valley Music Seminars is the host. That's where we're going to hold the event on June 7th.

[00:05:54]Uh, and they've donated the space for free.

[00:05:57]Uh, so just so generous. Uh, I already mentioned Post Ranch Inn. I think I mentioned everybody there.

[00:06:03]Uh, and then of course, Creative Art Services, and that leads me to Sheryl Feely. And Sheryl, um, she's on our panel here. Hopefully, you can see her. Uh, and if I missed anything about the event, we'll come back to it. I'm just super excited to talk about Sheryl. Um, she's joined us here today. She's the owner of Creative Art Services, and she had this wonderful idea to commission two artists, and both those artists are here today. I'll let her introduce them.

[00:06:32]Uh, and talk about the art that they've created. But Sheryl, I just want to mention, she uh comes to us in in many different ways. She's a donor, she's a volunteer tracking condors on the coast, and she's constantly finding ways to to make a bigger impact. And and through this event and and her relationships with these wonderful artists, she's she's doing just that. So, Sheryl, welcome, and want to uh say a few words about uh yourself and and uh these these artists.

[00:07:03]>> Thanks so much, Kelly, and hello to everyone out there, and to all the Ventana Wildlife Society team. What's happening with this auction is everybody's leaning in and giving back just a little bit more than they might ordinarily, just trying to help this fundraiser really bring in some good um some good revenue. I have been a condor tracker. I'm coming on my fourth year, I think. I was part of the original team, and it is some of the most rewarding work I've ever done. I've worked a lot in volunteerism over the last several decades, many decades. And um when the idea for the auction came about, my my thought was to invite some of the artists that I really enjoy working with in my business, which I primarily focus on art and healthcare and public sculpture. And so um out of the hundreds of art artists that I've worked with over 40 years, I reached out to Cynthia Houten and Patti Griffin, who are both with us today, and they both created amazing works of art. Um the the their um the first one, they're both ceramic, so it could be considered fine craft, fine art, fine craft. Both pieces are unique and original, and there is only one of them. And the both of these pieces are part of the auction. And so someone lucky out there um is going to going to become the receiver of either or both of these works. And um one thing I wanted to say about tracking because tracking on the coast is is about the birds for sure, and on a given day as a volunteer condor tracker, I might spin in circles 360°.

[00:08:48]almost a thousand times, which is a lot.

[00:08:51]And some of my most rewarding moments, obviously, are having the birds fly over. And especially when I get to share it with visitors or people that are out looking for condors on the coast, some of which have traveled from very, very far away. And then they they get that moment for a condor to fly over. It's so It's so invigorating that if any of you are out there, I remember you because we've all went, "Wow." So um Cynthia is going to kick off the first of two pieces with the title of the work called Condors Fly Free. It is 16 in wide by 16 in high by about an inch deep. It's ready to be mounted on the wall. And um on the next slide, you'll see the process and Cynthia will share with you how she created this work.

[00:09:42]>> [snorts] >> Uh, should I start?

[00:09:53]>> Next slide, Joe.

[00:09:58]Great. Thanks.

[00:10:00]>> Yeah.

[00:10:01]So, I'm Cynthia Houghtin and I love working with Sheryl and she obviously loves working with the condors. And that came through when I was talking with her.

[00:10:11]Um, so I I dove into this project. I looked at lots of images.

[00:10:18]And I'm on the I'm in in Vermont, so I haven't seen condors, but I do spend a lot of time looking at birds and um So, um, so I picked out some images that kind of they felt like um like they had some character in them and I put them together.

[00:10:40]Um and then translated that into a sculptural low relief sculpture. So, basically I I and you can see in the second image, I sculpted it out in clay, a form to go underneath the tile and then I draped the clay over that.

[00:10:59]Paint it with slip and then carve into it. So, it's sort of like wood carving, it's sort of like sculpture.

[00:11:06]And the thing that's special to me about this is um, when I when I work like this, I I see all the details. I have to make decisions about every single feather and every little wrinkle and every little curl of the toes.

[00:11:24]And it slows me down and brings my attention to all those details.

[00:11:29]Um, so I love this kind of work um, and it really gave me a deeper kind of love and respect for these creatures as I was working on it. Um, and then I, um, I placed them, um, in Big Sur, so that imagery came from, um, images of Big Sur.

[00:11:49]So, um, yeah, I, um, Cheryl invited me to come see the condors sometime and I'm I'm definitely taking her up on that offer at sometime cuz >> Yeah.

[00:12:00]>> it seems like that'd be really special.

[00:12:04]>> Wow, gorgeous.

[00:12:07]>> Yeah, you captured it well.

[00:12:12]>> It looks even cooler in person. You You actually It has a lot of texture to it like that is you can't actually see in this, um, shot, but >> Yeah, I like all the colors, too.

[00:12:25]They're kind of like soft colors.

[00:12:27]>> I can I can jump in on the colors a little bit. As as much detail work as there is in the carving, one thing about glazing ceramic is the colors that that the artists work with are actually not the colors that are fired often times. And so, um, this piece, Cynthia, you fired it a couple of extra times, didn't you? If I recall, we went back and forth a few times.

[00:12:53]>> rounds of glaze firing to try to, um, capture that feeling that we were looking for.

[00:13:01]>> And the blue when you when you're working with the blue coloration, what color are you actually, um, putting on the ceramic itself, for example?

[00:13:10]>> It's kind of like a whitish gray. Like it's really guesswork. A lot of just faith and hope, um, involved [laughter] involved in that. And, um, and also like, you know, when I'm trying to get things in specific areas, too, I did some masking to try to get the glaze to land here and not there. I didn't want to have like for instance like the color of the head like I didn't want it to be white but I didn't want it to be blue.

[00:13:36]So I had to kind of make sure that that that head color didn't end up in the water and the water color didn't end up on the head.

[00:13:44]>> I remember that and if I if I recall correctly what you did is you you have an adult condor in the foreground and then a young condor is in the background which doesn't have a fully colored head yet. So there's a lot of intention behind this piece and yes seeing it in person it really has a lot of dimension and sculptural presence. It's beautiful. Thank you so much.

[00:14:12]>> Yeah, it was my pleasure to work on it.

[00:14:14]>> Really beautiful.

[00:14:18]>> Next one, Joe?

[00:14:19]>> All right.

[00:14:23]>> So the second work of art is called from 22 they rise which which as you heard Kelly just talk about was the record low of the number of California condors back in 1982 and this piece is in two it's presented in two different ways finished. On the left it's outside of Patty's studio home in Cambria and then on the right it's on display at the Phoenix shop at Nepenthe in Big Sur which is where it sits right now and it is about 70 inches high so just under 6 feet tall.

[00:15:07]The base of it is about 16 inches in diameter and each of those elements that you see stack on a on a steel pole so it's ready for installation pretty easy installation either indoors or outdoors.

[00:15:23]Prefer Preferably, if it's outdoors, in something of a semi-protected space.

[00:15:28]And Patty is with us today from Cambria.

[00:15:32]So, Patty, would you like to um share a little bit about your piece and the process? Joe, you can go to the next slide.

[00:15:40]>> Hi everybody. I'm really excited to be here. And before I get started, um I want to thank Sheryl, and I also want to say Cynthia's piece in person has so much dimension to it. I got to be with Sheryl when we installed it at Nepenthe, and it's really amazing. So, bravo, Cynthia. Um I'm a fan.

[00:16:00]Uh yeah, so what I do, on the left on the slide, you'll see the original concept when Sheryl asked me to to do this, and >> [clears throat] >> the final is quite different, but not different in intention. There were some key things that she asked me to include, and the way that I work is really starting from a concept.

[00:16:23]Um and Sheryl and I have done several projects together like this, so she's really a creative partner, a collaborator in it. We probably talked 15 times, and did some back and forth with sending photos.

[00:16:37]She's come here. So, there's [clears throat] a lot of input that happens, especially on a project like this, where the passion started with her.

[00:16:46]And now I must say that I I am feeling really passionate about the California condors, too. Um like Cynthia was describing, when we're doing this kind of illustrated work, we kind we really have to understand the subject as much as possible. So, I looked at a lot of drawings, tried to transcribe them into the work that I do with sgraffito. And sgraffito, in Italian, is to etch. Um so, I cover my pieces, once they're formed, I cover them with a black underglaze, and then I etch away. So, every line that you see, it's it's really like doing a woodcut.

[00:17:26]Every line is take where I take away the black.

[00:17:30]Um and the white is the color of the clay underneath. And I may go back in later, like Cynthia described, and add color.

[00:17:39]Um but I'm really working from black and white from the start. So, my work tends to be pretty graphic.

[00:17:46]Um There's a little video.

[00:17:49]>> Yeah, Joe has a video to show everyone.

[00:17:51]Just a short one.

[00:17:52]>> Yeah, it's fast forwarding a very long process.

[00:18:05]It's starting.

[00:18:14]>> While he's doing that, I love the symbolism throughout the whole piece, by the way, from 22 reference of 22 and Yeah, love to hear more about that, too.

[00:18:25]>> Could you go forward to the next slide while we wait for the video?

[00:18:29]Because um there are three three of the sgraffito works have words etched into them.

[00:18:36]Um and the the bottom piece says, "From 22 they rise."

[00:18:43]>> Yeah, I'm having issues uh sorry, with the [clears throat] >> It's okay. Um from Um from 22 they rise, and then Patty, do you want to share the other two?

[00:18:54]>> [snorts] >> Yeah, uh one says, "No lead ammo." And the other one says, "Let them fly free."

[00:19:02]I think. I can't remember now. Um >> I think that's right.

[00:19:06]>> Yeah. And they all each each one is made separately, and then stacked onto this steel pole. So, it's it's very easy to transport. And in fact, I drove it up in my smallest sedan car to meet Sherwin Napentha and we installed it had the initial setup done in like 15 minutes. So, that's the other thing I wanted to communicate. The intention with this is that it's it's easy for someone to take home or if they live in California, I think arrangements are going to be made to deliver and install for them.

[00:19:42]The piece I do want to just kind of mention the very top has a California condor sculpture. And at first I was just going to do like a button and end it there. And the very last thing I did was thought, I got to try to make this.

[00:19:59]I just have to try it. And like a lot of the projects that I've done with Sheryl, it stretches me to do the next thing.

[00:20:06]And in this case, it was doing that. And now I'm working on some other projects similar to this with other types of animals and images. So, once again, she stretched me. And uh Yeah, just got that done. Um The other thing after we did the installation, Sheryl said, "Why don't you follow me back down towards Cambria and I'm going to pull off at a site where we often see condors." And so, I got to to watch that part. She pulled off the road and she was sitting there with the binoculars and I could not spot it at first. Like, "What are you looking at?" And there was just a carcass down below and she was looking at the vultures waiting for condors to come in. And I couldn't stay.

[00:20:48]I had to get home. So, I wandered back down. And you know, it's like every time I see a biggish bird now up in the sky, I think, "Oh man, that's a condor." I almost pulled off the road several times. I'm sure they were just vultures, but I got my eye out now.

[00:21:05]>> It's good. Would you flip to the next slide, Joe?

[00:21:11]So, um both of these works are on display at the Phoenix gift shop at Nepenthe until through June 6th, and then they'll be um um at the auction on June 7th. I take it back. It's through June 5th. So, we're taking them down Saturday morning the 6th. And if you haven't been to the Phoenix shop, I love that place um and I'm so grateful to them for supporting um this project and allowing us to present these two works of art there and taking up their valuable retail space. They're so generous to Ventana Wildlife Society.

[00:21:49]And if you're curious and would like to see them, they're there. Go look for condors.

[00:21:56]>> That's not too far from good condor watching, that's for sure.

[00:21:59]>> not. So, do you do you do you tell where that site is, Joe?

[00:22:03]>> Mile marker 41.

[00:22:05]>> There you go, folks. Mile marker 41.

[00:22:08]>> [laughter] >> Well, now now Sheryl, we're also going to install uh this exhibit at the event on June 7th, right?

[00:22:18]>> Yes. Um they will be up and on display on the 7th, and it's a great time to come and um and to actually see the pieces up close as well. And that's at Hidden Valley.

[00:22:31]Oh, and I forgot one more minor kind of big thing for any of you out there that do any drawing or nature journaling, John Muir Laws, who is kind of the I don't know, the grandfather of nature journaling, um spent 3 hours with Daren, and um they recorded a video about drawing condors that goes through all different um levels from beginner beginners all the way to people that are more advanced. And that is complimentary when you sign up for the auction either in person or live. So, be sure and check that out, too.

[00:23:09]>> Thank you so much, Cheryl and and and Cynthia and Patricia or Patty, I guess you prefer. I really appreciate all that you've done and can't wait to see what happens with the event. Let's go ahead and just wrap that up and and let's remind folks how they can participate. They can sign up for tickets in the in-person event for the June 7th event on our website. You can also register for the auction. You do have to do those two two things separately.

[00:23:41]Um and then on the 8th of June, the auction will close, so the day after the in-person event. Um The in-person event, if you just go back one more slide, we have great food from Rima Cro, we have wonderful beverages from uh uh Alvarado [clears throat] Street Brewery, Blade and Talon Wine. We have live music, David Hodo laugh, Peter Melinger.

[00:24:06]And we're going to have Antonio Balistreri there and he's bringing a peregrine falcon and he's going to give a special presentation to talk about the conservation of the peregrine falcon and how that dovetails with the work that we're doing with with California condors. And there's just so many so many things on on the auction. There's just not enough time to to to share it all or to describe it all. So, we do hope you check it out. You don't have to even register to see what's in the auction. So, you check it out first and decide if you want to register, but I obviously hope you do. We're trying to kick off the Save the Condor campaign this year with a bang and once again, just thank all of you for helping us make that a big success and hope you all can join us.

[00:24:54]So, it's a good place to turn over to to Joe and uh get to the regular update how the condors are doing and I hope all of you on the panel will stay with us.

[00:25:06]>> Thank you, Kelly. And again, a quick note on that Alvarado Street, they uh last Thursday kicked off the Flight of the Condor beer, um which they did back in 2021 to help with the condor project. So, that was really cool. Um uh we had a big turnout at the brewery and uh they will I think that's the beer that will be at the event, right, Kelly?

[00:25:30]I see.

[00:25:30]>> Yeah, that's that's right. It's um it's an IPA. It's really really good.

[00:25:35]>> Pretty tasty.

[00:25:37]Yeah, for sure.

[00:25:39]And uh yeah, excited to see all the art, the behind-the-scenes on that artwork.

[00:25:42]That was pretty incredible. And that's a great transition to what inspires me and all my my crew to do what we do. We're uh here to provide you a condor update on how the flock's been the last month. Um it's been a a month of up and downs. Um yeah, when we get into the population update, but also a lot of other exciting developments happening.

[00:26:07]Uh we're going to talk a little bit about the fledglings from last year and then this year how the the nesting's doing, the 2026 nesting update.

[00:26:16]We'll always have time for questions at the end. And right now, just to let put it on your calendar for next condor chat is June 25th, 2026.

[00:26:27]So, be sure to join us then.

[00:26:31]Uh again, I work with an amazing crew of people. Uh Mike Stake, our non-lead outreach coordinator and biologist, and then all the condor biologist, Darren Gross, Cara Fadden, who are both here today.

[00:26:45]Wave to everybody.

[00:26:47]They're going to be jumping in here shortly to help me out. And uh Janay won't be with us this month, but hopefully she'll be back next month. And of course, our GIS specialist, super duper map map maker, Evan Mcgreath.

[00:27:02]Um and of course, Tim Hunting tin, database expert and our volunteer, um and then our uh veterinary advisor, Amy Wells, who does amazing stuff and without can't go without mentioning our amazing stellar team of volunteers, Cheryl of which is one of them.

[00:27:20]We can't It definitely takes a village and they they do a ton of work for um tracking work for us on the coast.

[00:27:29]They really uh it can't put into words the the benefit we've received from um them being out there amongst it out there on the coast.

[00:27:40]I wanted to share a little a different kind of art spotlight. Um this was sent to me by uh Dashiell, who's age four and a half. His mom sent me this photo. She She wanted to share it and uh Dashiell's older brother, Sullivan, who's age eight, is an avid birder and he frequently attends or listens to our condor chats.

[00:28:05]And Sullivan has passed along his love of condors to his little brother and that's obviously taken hold because he made this amazing drawing. Um you can definitely see the white underwing patches, got the color right.

[00:28:19]Got the uh beak in there and uh pretty amazing. So, thank you, Dashiell, for letting us share that photo today. Uh or your your artwork today. It's pretty amazing and uh yeah, that was a a real treat for all of us. I was able to share it with the crew and everyone and uh now everyone gets to see it.

[00:28:41]Um sanctuary, uh you know, as everyone knows, we work up at the condor sanctuary down in Big Sur.

[00:28:46]Obviously, it's a really special spot and you know, going way out in the back country like that, you come across some cool critters and I always like to kind of pass along what we're seeing up there besides condors uh cuz you know, obviously there's there's more than just condors out there.

[00:29:03]And uh on the right, I came across which is an unusual time of year to come across tarantulas.

[00:29:09]I usually we usually see them in fall.

[00:29:12]Um so this was a little bit of surprise.

[00:29:14]I came across this guy on the right.

[00:29:17]Um and he wasn't really happy to see me.

[00:29:20]>> [laughter] >> He was he was uh ready for me to move on and uh anyway, I was able to get this nice photo of him. And then um another cool thing that's happened this year, uh me and Darin were driving up to the site and we've been watching these caterpillars and we're like, "God, I wonder what that caterpillar is?" And they finally the caterpillars finally um disperse, you know, cocoon and became caterpillar they went became butterflies and this is the butterfly. We found out it's called a California tortoiseshell.

[00:29:52]And this was an unusual year. They they defoliated all the Ceanothus.

[00:29:57]And then they had this huge swarm.

[00:29:59]Um and I have a quick video I just wanted to share. Um hopefully it'll play. I'm having issues with videos, but it kind of captures the it was really crazy. The I mean, I've never driven through this many butterflies in my life.

[00:30:14]But I had to share this moment. This is pretty wild.

[00:30:22]>> [music] [music] >> Hey!

[00:30:45]>> [music] >> Anyway, that was that was one of the more >> [laughter] >> pretty wild uh unexpected to come around a turn in a road and be overwhelmed by butterflies.

[00:31:07]Almost felt like I was swimming in the ocean. They were just kind of like they kind of just were everywhere.

[00:31:13]Um anyway, that was that. Let's move on.

[00:31:17]Oh, and we had a new essay come out that Mike and Kelly have been working on.

[00:31:21]Maybe Mike, you can speak to that really quick.

[00:31:27]>> Oh, sure. You you make me follow up the cool butterfly video.

[00:31:31]Uh yeah, were any butterflies harmed in the in the making of that video?

[00:31:36]>> think so.

[00:31:37]>> Oh.

[00:31:38]>> I was trying to avoid the grill, but you know what I mean.

[00:31:41]>> Yeah.

[00:31:42]Well, you know, ev- everybody knows that ammunition is uh is critical uh for condor recovery. We are trying to help hunters and ranchers gain access to non-lead ammunition. And certainly, as you've heard, the non-lead.22 has been in very, very short supply. And we wanted people to know about it from top to bottom. And so, we actually wrote a paper about it. And that paper was just published uh looks like day before yesterday. So, uh pretty recent uh hot off the press there uh um be nice if we can get that link in the uh in the chat if we get a chance.

[00:32:27]Um that's a that's a lot there to type in the search bar there uh >> [laughter] >> uh but if um but but basically, the the paper is really identifying the problem and uh perhaps uh some of the issues involved with condor recovery to just put that on people's radar and and let folks know that hunters and ranchers are trying to make the switch, but there are some obstacles that we still need uh to overcome to make that happen.

[00:32:58]>> [snorts] >> Yeah, really important paper.

[00:33:01]Great job on that. And uh yeah, that link if uh um I don't know if you or Kelly or somebody could paste it and put it in the >> Sheryl put it in the chat.

[00:33:10]>> Sheryl already put it in there and we're going to send out an email this week with with a little announcement about this, too. So, we'll include the link there.

[00:33:18]>> Awesome.

[00:33:19]But yeah, great great essay.

[00:33:23]All right, on to the population. We are at 110.

[00:33:27]That number dropped from our last update. Um unfortunately, we had a couple condor deaths.

[00:33:35]Uh you know, not always the best thing to report on, but uh yeah, we added a couple condors. We're going to talk more about them after this slide.

[00:33:46]And uh we still have three missing birds.

[00:33:50]And we currently in treatment for lead poisoning. Um it's touch and go for these two birds. It's uh the great 340 from Pinnacles. Uh he's kind of the alpha dog over there at Pinnacles.

[00:34:05]Really sad to see him in for treatment.

[00:34:08]He's been up and down during his treatment. We get updates that he's improving, then the next day we'll get an update, oh, he's he's really on the on the downswing. And the latest update, they're cautiously optimistic. So, um anyway, it's uh it's been a little bit of emotional roller coaster for the crew this month.

[00:34:27]And of course, we have 868 that's in treatment that's in the same boat. Um and we'll have more details about that, but we also added uh unfortunately we added Diane 1011. Um, we added she's been missing now a year since May 2025 and after a year uh we declare them deceased.

[00:34:46]Uh so that's also unfortunate, but um yeah, we can get more into details.

[00:34:53]>> It's like I can take over, Joe.

[00:34:55]>> Yeah, go for it.

[00:34:56]>> Um yeah, as Joe said it's kind of been an up and down month for sure. Um we have some exciting things to announce a little bit later, but we're going to kind of give a little shout-out to these birds who we lost. Um as he mentioned uh 1011 Diane has now officially been missing in the wild for a year. So at that point we declare them deceased for the year prior. Um so that brings our death total for 2025 up to 10 with her. Um but yeah, a little bit about her. She was hatched on March 22nd in 2020 at the Oregon Zoo um and then was brought down and part of our San Simeon release cohort in 2021.

[00:35:37]So she was released on December 4th um with an all female uh cohort that we ended up naming after females in conservation. So she kind of gave a little nod to Diane Fossey, the amazing gorilla um primatologist and conservationist. And a little bit kind of the timeline is we saw some clinical signs of lead poisoning with her. She was acting a little funky.

[00:36:02]Um we tried to trap her. Of course she never went into our trap. Um after that she kind of disappeared. So we set up a couple of LightHawk flights, which is the amazing organization we partner with um that helps us try to track down these missing birds.

[00:36:18]Um they're invaluable. Like they're an incredible organization that helps us through and through. Um so just shout-out to them.

[00:36:26]Um at that point we were able to kind of figure out where she was, but we're never able to get access to the property that she was at. Um so we continued to kind of track her, um but again kind of after a year we're still unable to get access and declared her dead. So, yeah. Little nod to 1011. It's been a rough rough go for that cohort. We kind of thought all of these birds were going to They were just coming up to breeding age. Um and then, yeah, she she with some of her other fellow cohort kind of got sick. So, yeah.

[00:37:08]Um our next in memoriam is the famous 589. Um Again, he's kind of the bird that we've talked about multiple times that has nested multiple years in a row.

[00:37:20]Uh he was paired with 569, Phoebe the Forager, Phoebe. Um and yeah, they have successfully had six chicks in a row, um which is not It's They're kind of the the oddballs out that we love to talk about whenever we say that condors nest every other year, we say except for this example. Um so yeah, he's This is a really hard one for everybody. I know especially the Pinnacles crew. Um but of course us too cuz you know, they're they're also amazing and individuals. Um but a little background on him, again he's a captive bred bird. So, he was hatched June 13th, 2010 um at the World Center of Birds of Prey in Boise, Idaho.

[00:38:08]Uh was released in September 26th of 2011.

[00:38:12]And again, a little background, they did have uh active nest this year. They were still incubating that nest um that egg and he kind of abandoned the nest. 5 uh uh 69 continued to incubate incubate that nest, but he just didn't go back.

[00:38:29]Um he'd always go into the area, but didn't ever enter the nest cavity. Um they would kind of interact with each other at the Pinnacles flight pen, but again, he never actually went back into that cavity. Eventually, he really started showing some clinical signs of lead poisoning. He had super droopy wings, um was kind of uncoordinated, unbalanced, um and the Pinnacles crew was fortunately able to trap him.

[00:38:56]Uh he was then transferred down to the Los Angeles Zoo for treatment, and unfortunately was euthanized on May 21st uh just for quality of life. He was not doing well at all. Um so they made that hard decision to euthanize him. So, he was 15, which is again not old for condors, but it's yeah, kind of the unfortunate age that we're these birds at. Um and again, necropsy's pending for him. So, because we do have his body, um we'll be able to send that up to our like diagnostic lab, and they'll be able to do cause of death. Um of course he was euthanized, so that plays a part of it, but there's definitely underlying issues that happened and like reasons for why he deteriorated um to where he was. But again, just I wanted to shout out what an amazing dad he was. He had six biological offspring, and then raised two other chicks that weren't biologically his, but um he raised them, he incubated them, he fledged those chicks, and he continued to feed them long after uh most chicks stop getting fed by their parents. So, again, he he's a real MVP. He's our power dad, and we'll miss him a lot, of course.

[00:40:21]>> Yeah, and I'll I'll talk about uh >> Get over the load.

[00:40:24]>> Yeah. Yeah, I'll I'll talk about A27, the um last bird that we've lost in the in this past month. So, A27, um he uh kind of like we've talked about in in a lot of the other birds we've lost so far this year, was was kind of just just coming into his own, reaching breeding age uh not that long ago. He was actually paired with another male condor 986, who we also sadly lost only a couple months ago.

[00:40:49]Um and um but yeah, I just wanted to give his his background. So, he's a Pinnacles-managed bird. Um he hatched at the World Center for Birds of Prey in Boise on April 20th, uh 2016.

[00:41:03]And he was released by the Pinnacles crew uh on November 29th, 2017.

[00:41:09]Um and yeah, so after he had lost his mate, 986, um we had seen him and the Pinnacles crew especially had seen him flying around with another uh female, 747, who had nested before and also had uh her mate had recently gone missing.

[00:41:24]Um so, we we thought, you know, maybe they were they were pairing up, but then um more recently, the Pinnacles crew noticed that he was uh showing clinical signs of lead toxicosis. As Cara mentioned with 589, one of the telltale signs and symptoms is that we see is that birds start drooping their wings, and that was something they definitely noticed with A27. Um they were able to trap him uh thankfully on uh May 22nd and immediately brought him down to Los Angeles Zoo the next day and and uh yeah, he was in treatment. The LA Zoo keepers were were doing all they can and the vets were doing all they can and and uh they were um operating on him and he died during the operation. Um so, it uh yeah, I mean, we're we're all uh crushed by these losses. I know also too, just a shout out the the Oakland and LA Zoo keepers and and vets too.

[00:42:13]Like they they're doing all they can to fight for these birds and and and try to try to get them better. So I know it's just as crushing for them too to to lose birds like this.

[00:42:23]So yeah, officially A27 died on on May 24th. He was only 10 years old. Again, really only coming into his own and yeah, like like with the others, you know, we're still have a necropsy pending. So once we get a cause of death, we will we will share that.

[00:42:42]>> [snorts] >> Yeah, and then just to continue on as we had mentioned, we got a couple birds in treatment still. 340 who's up at Oakland Zoo and and they're doing what they can to to give him treatment and and aid his recovery and same thing with the LA Zoo keepers with 868. They're they're doing all they can for him, too.

[00:43:02]Yeah, both birds are still recovering.

[00:43:04]We're we're you know, it's day-to-day.

[00:43:05]We're we're hoping for them. They're always on our minds and yeah, we're we're getting updates whenever we can. In some better news, a couple birds that had been down at LA Zoo for treatment were recently released back into the wild. 943 another male who's breeding age but but still pretty young and and then 1215 juvenile female bird. Both birds in the Pinnacles flock. Yeah, they were treated for lead toxicosis and and thankfully recovered and and were released back into the wild on May 16th and they both seem to be doing well.

[00:43:37]And yeah, there's a huge can't thank Oakland Zoo and LA Zoo enough for all the work they're doing. They're they are yeah, fighting tooth and nail putting all their putting their all into into these birds to to help their recovery.

[00:43:49]So just a huge shout out to them. Can't thank them enough.

[00:43:52]>> Yeah, and they do it on last minute notice, you know, because we don't always know when we're going to be able to catch these birds or find them sick and they drop everything and help us. So yeah, I think LA Zoo had four birds in treatment at one time.

[00:44:04]>> Yeah.

[00:44:05]>> So they they've just taken a big load, um, but yeah, just nice to have those guys to fall back on, for sure.

[00:44:11]>> Mhm. Mhm.

[00:44:17]All right, turning the page. Um, yeah, I got a got some updates on the on the 2025 rookies and and not just our our own uh Ventana managed rookies, but some some of the Pinnacles birds, too.

[00:44:30]Really the the big news that we've seen is that they're they're just continuing to to move and explore outside of San Simeon, spending more time uh up in Big Sur especially, and so Huckleberry is is definitely become more of a regular. Uh he's pictured here at 1290.

[00:44:44]Um, yeah, Huckleberry's been a much more of a regular in Big Sur now and and seems to be getting pretty comfortable up there, which is good to see after I think his first visit up there he visited and turned around pretty quickly. And we suspect maybe he felt a little overwhelmed with all the all the other condors and especially the adult condors up there, but but he seems to be getting more comfortable up there. And he's been uh bringing in a uh bringing some friends up with him uh recently. So, in this photo here, uh the the bird in sort of at the bottom center of this photo is 1265, um, Alala. Uh she uh this is her first time up in Big Sur was just in the past couple weeks and she was uh released with Huckleberry and so yeah, she's getting comfortable in up there now and and has been spending a lot of time up there. I think she's back at San Simeon at the moment, but um yeah, more recently had spent quite a bit of time up in Big Sur and has just been interacting with the birds there. And yeah, same thing with uh 1276. This is a Pinnacles managed rookie, but still in that same was also released last year.

[00:45:45]So, yeah, I think he's uh he's been getting comfortable up there and and just following some the other young birds around as they're kind of making the moves between Pinnacles and Big Sur and and down to San Simeon, as well. And I think there's one other uh rookie. Yeah, 1257 here in the sort of in the front left part of this photo is another Pinnacles managed uh rookie who was released last year with 1276. Oh, and 1262 right behind 1257 they're kind of in the back. You can just make out the tag. But yeah, the the three of these birds 1276, 1262, and 1257 were all released by Pinnacles last year and yeah, they all showed up to at Big Sur together. Um and and yeah, I've just been um yeah, getting comfortable meeting other birds there and and yeah, just meeting another crew portion of the flock.

[00:46:32]>> Yeah, I mean for me too. It's my first time seeing them.

[00:46:34]>> Yeah.

[00:46:34]>> Cuz they released Pinnacles released them and obviously I hadn't been over at Pinnacles in a while and it was cool to be up there and see these three show up.

[00:46:41]>> Mhm.

[00:46:42]>> But then again, it's got to be pretty mind-blowing for them to find this other whole entire flock all these big old scary birds, you know.

[00:46:50]>> Yeah.

[00:46:51]>> I don't know who that is on the right there, but >> Yeah.

[00:46:55]>> It's got to be a a social awakening a little bit, [laughter] you know.

[00:46:59]>> Yeah.

[00:47:00]>> Absolutely. Yeah, they go from especially the San Simeon birds having maybe like you know, at most 15 other birds or so around that that they're you know, interacting with and then in Big Sur it's close for like on the regular more like 30 to 50 birds that they're that they're with up there. It's definitely a change.

[00:47:18]>> It's interesting cuz like hierarchy-wise, you know, they they they probably like being in that little protective bubble, but it's almost like they can't resist >> Yeah.

[00:47:27]>> that even though that hierarchy is so much more intense in Big Sur and Pinnacles.

[00:47:32]They're you they're still drawn to it, you know. I think it's that speaks volumes, you know, to their whole the whole pecking order.

[00:47:37]>> I always feel like it's going to high school. Like you always want to go to high school, but then you get there and you're like, "Whoa."

[00:47:43]>> Exactly. [laughter] Great analogy.

[00:47:46]>> Great analogy.

[00:47:49]>> Or middle school. I don't know.

[00:47:50]>> [laughter] >> Okay, now we're going to talk about really exciting things. We started the chat off little sad, but we've turned our page to exciting things. So, as you guys know, Pinnacles was able to trap one of the untags and put on a temporary tag 9017 and genetics came back that it is in fact 1371 Aloni and she's female. So, >> Yes, we need more females.

[00:48:16]>> really excited about that.

[00:48:18]>> Mhm.

[00:48:18]>> You can see in this amazing screen grab from Jess828 that she's kind of biting at 201 219 just who knows trying to get food, trying to get attention. And the bird in the back is actually 538 Miracle, her mom. So, it's kind of a the first family photo we have of these three. And she'll keep her temporary tag until we can trap her again.

[00:48:43]But so now when you see a green 17, you know that's Aloni. So, that's really exciting to kind of get these genetics back and figure out who some of these untags are.

[00:48:53]>> Yeah, and big shout out to the explore.org viewers and Jess828. I'm glad they caught this moment. It's a pretty cool >> It's an awesome moment.

[00:49:01]There was another photo >> bird could bite 219 like that not get destroyed.

[00:49:06]>> Yeah, [laughter] besides his own babies.

[00:49:08]>> Besides his own kid.

[00:49:10]Cuz he's a he's he's a big boy.

[00:49:12]>> Yeah.

[00:49:15]And our next slide is still an untag.

[00:49:17]So, there are still untags out there that we have yet to capture.

[00:49:21]We do think that this is 1372 who is 1006 and 574's chick.

[00:49:29]We have seen you know an untag interacting with those two. So, we suspect that. But of course we can we won't be able to confirm that until we can get this chick in hand.

[00:49:41]So, yeah, there's still still untags out there. We're still working on getting them trapped and figuring out who they are. But it's nice to get We have at least one down so far.

[00:49:52]>> I think we'll have some luck this fall.

[00:49:53]I think we're going to we'll get them all.

[00:49:59]Oh, well, this is a big year.

[00:50:00]>> Yeah. This is This table's a little overwhelming, but this is our 2026 nesting update.

[00:50:06]Um so far at the end of May here, we have five active nests still and five nests that have failed. Um so kind of since last month, our biggest update is with 589 and 569's nest. Um as we just mentioned, 589 unfortunately did pass away this past month. Um so Pinnacles was able to go and do a nest entry um and kind of made the hard decision to evacuate that chick. Um it was super underweight for its age um and we just think, you know, kind of single parent raising it um wasn't giving it potentially the best opportunity to thrive and fledge.

[00:50:47]Um so they decided to evacuate that chick. Um and that chick's stud book number is 1429 um and is now living down in San Diego at the San Diego Zoo. Um so we're hoping, you know, that chick will have a really great start down at San Diego and will be able to get it back for next season uh to then be able to release it back into the wild. Um but yeah, they made that hard decision to take that chick out of the wild um to be captive reared just to give it its best, you know, chance of thriving and surviving.

[00:51:21]Um other than that, we've gotten two more stud books back, which is super exciting. Um so 190 and 745's chick is going to be 1425, and then 1317 and 665's chick is 1424.

[00:51:37]Which it still mind blows me that we're at 1400's.

[00:51:41]>> I know. I can't believe it.

[00:51:42]>> Which is so so exciting.

[00:51:44]>> we We said that when it's we saw that we're like, "Whoa, 1,400."

[00:51:48]>> Yeah.

[00:51:49]We're like, "Wait, what? How are we at 1,400?"

[00:51:51]>> Mhm.

[00:51:52]>> Um yeah, so that's really exciting news.

[00:51:55]It's always fun to like submit our studbook request form um and figure out who our chicks are going to be. And yeah, those are our, you know, two studbooks so far. We do still have some more nests that we do believe that like they're still going.

[00:52:11]Um they're still active. We're still watching them closely, but they're very remote and kind of hard to keep eyes on.

[00:52:20]Um the main one I'm talking about is 840 and our girl Aniko 1031's nest. Um their nest is extremely remote and we're kind of only going off of her GPS and then also like visual detections and signal detections for both of them. Um so we're going off of some pretty limited data.

[00:52:42]Um but patterns are still looking all right, so we're we're still hopeful on that one. Um birds will incubate like a month after hatch date, like hatch success um expected date. So, again, we're hoping to call that in the next couple weeks here. Um so, stay tuned for next chat for some of these others. Um and then also our 585 Sorry, 758 and 936 nest we do believe is still also going, but again is a relatively remote area. Um so, we're just monitoring that as best as we can to make sure that that is still going before we officially call it.

[00:53:27]And then there are the >> for the trio at Pinnacles, right?

[00:53:29]>> Yeah, the trio again, so they nested earlier this year um and had their two eggs in their nest um and then when they went to go enter the nest, only ended up finding one egg um that I believe was infertile and the other one was crushed or they just found eggshell fragments.

[00:53:48]Um, but then again, oh no, that was a different trio. I'm so sorry.

[00:53:53]Um, this one they can't do nest entries into, but they do think it's still going. It's hard to see where the birds are incubating, so yeah, again, it's kind of hard to determine what's going on, but the birds are still going back to the nest cavity and like showing signs that it's still active.

[00:54:13]>> Yeah, we had some established pairs that we thought for sure were going to nest this year. Um, you know, like 47962 and 209 and, um, 881 and definitely amongst those pairs we saw some birds some of those birds displaying signs of lead poisoning.

[00:54:31]>> Mhm.

[00:54:32]>> And so, you know, I as a crew we always talk about just kind of we think that that's another impact of lead that that's not necessarily killing them, but it's making them sick enough to where they they don't have the energy to breed.

[00:54:46]>> Yeah.

[00:54:47]>> And so, um, that's just something we've been tracking the last few years of the impact of lead on nesting and obviously the impact it had on 569 and 589 was >> Mhm.

[00:54:57]>> pretty direct, you know, losing the male. Um, so yeah, it's just interesting, you know, it's, um, we always wonder what's going on with nesting and a lot of times it's it's more obvious than we probably think and that it's they're just not feeling well enough, you know.

[00:55:11]>> Yeah.

[00:55:12]>> So, we also been talking about, um, 892 Vincent dying has kind of shaken up a lot too, so even though these other nesting pairs weren't affected by lead in a sense, his passing kind of shook up a bunch of things, so >> Oh, yeah.

[00:55:29]>> we yeah, we kind of our like preseason lineup for nesting. We had a lot of pairs that we were really confident would go and nest this year and they didn't um for you know whatever reason but most likely probably lead related but we don't know for sure.

[00:55:47]>> But yes, overall still a great nest year. We have still five potentially five chicks, six chicks >> Yeah.

[00:55:53]>> going so um yeah, just cross our fingers for the other three that that we're still monitoring but they're they're still looking pretty good. So um all in all, you know, if we get five to six chicks out per year, that's pretty good. You know, we we got spoiled with 2024 and we got nine so hard to top that but uh yeah, all considering really great year for the birds. Um They they go through a lot. They get thrown a lot at them.

[00:56:23]And again, uh we we got our fundraiser coming up but always uh you can donate to the Save the Condor Fund and condor recovery um and a great way to do it this time around is through the event.

[00:56:36]Uh you can connect with us on social media.

[00:56:39]Um you know, on Instagram, Facebook, YouTube.

[00:56:42]Um yeah, and if you go to YouTube and you like something, comment on it, you know, like or subscribe, do what the do everything you can on that that that always helps and then um uh subscribe for our updates.

[00:56:54]The full crop.

[00:56:55]Uh that's where as Kelly was mentioning like he'll we do all our follow-up emails and you get alerted of what's going on.

[00:57:05]Again, just to recap the event, uh online auction had online auction. God, I said that weird too like Kelly.

[00:57:12]Has kicked off officially kicked off and it's going to run through June 8th.

[00:57:17]Um and then the in-person event, if you can if you're in the area and can attend a attend, it would it'd be a lot of fun.

[00:57:24]Um it's going to be pretty exciting. Uh that's June 7th from 1 to 4:00 p.m.

[00:57:28]Hidden Valley Music Seminars and Carmel Valley.

[00:57:32]And with that, we go into questions.

[00:57:36]>> I was going to say and this is 589 so a little send off shout out to him again.

[00:57:43]>> It's so rough to lose these great birds.

[00:57:46]So tough.

[00:57:47]>> Amazing bird, amazing photo.

[00:57:50]>> Yeah, and I mean he was just scratching the surface. He was only 15. You know, these these guys are supposed to be living 50, 60 years so.

[00:57:56]>> Yeah, I mean we just celebrated Topa Topa 60 so.

[00:57:59]>> Yeah, at LA Zoo, yeah.

[00:58:02]So yeah, the next Condor Chat is June 25th, 2026 at 4:00 p.m.

[00:58:07]Mike, we got any questions?

[00:58:10]>> Uh yes, Joe, how many California condors are in existence today? That question comes from Christie in San Diego.

[00:58:19]>> We are just over 600 in existence. That includes all the birds in captivity and all the birds in the wild. And the wild includes Arizona, Baja, Mexico, Southern California, Central California, and Northern California.

[00:58:33]>> And how many condors did we have in 1982?

[00:58:38]>> 22.

[00:58:39]>> Okay, well I guess that is some progress to feel Yeah. good about. Uh I know there's a lot of things to not feel so good about.

[00:58:51]Um an interesting question from Phyllis and and I'll open this up to any of you uh Condor uh experts here on the the panel.

[00:59:04]Do condors imprint on a place? And the example that Phyllis uh brought up was if a chick was raised in a redwood nest, would that chick, say an eco perhaps, would that chick be more inclined to nest in the future and raise chicks in a redwood nest. What do we know about how condors behave in that regard or do we know?

[00:59:38]>> I was going to say I don't think we know, but I Nico was raised in a redwood and we think she's nesting in a cliff. So, it seems like no for that example.

[00:59:50]>> I would say their overall residency stays similar.

[00:59:54]I'll be call her a coastal bird more maybe.

[00:59:57]She's still on the coast range. She's on the interior of the coast range like Cara said in a cliff, but she's on the coast quite often. But yeah, that's that's a good one. I would say we really don't know and we haven't really seen any clear patterns. It seems more social driven hierarchy driven where they fit in kind of cuz we've had a lot of birds from the that were hatched on the coast and ended up um at Pinnacles, you know, nesting at Pinnacles and some birds that have gone nest at Pinnacles and come and nest at the coast and yeah, I was I was thinking of 574 and 538 when they nested together. They were the first two wild fledged birds to nest in the wild in Central California and they both chose a redwood on the coast and they both came out of caves. So, >> [laughter] >> you know, caves well inland.

[01:00:58]Oh no, I'm sorry. 538 didn't. 538 came from a redwood, but um I'm getting them all mixed up, but yeah, 574 definitely came from a cave. So, yeah, I I think it's more probably more social hierarchy driven, you know, and who just that's the part we're still trying to understand.

[01:01:15]We know it's it's like a soap opera out there.

[01:01:17]>> And that certainly makes sense. I I think to it's a nice thought to prove it I think would require a lot of evidence and I think there's probably just not enough evidence or or a lot of evidence on either side that that uh that that may or may not support the whole imprinting idea but interesting question.

[01:01:40]Um Jessica in Portland, Oregon wants to know can high lead levels be passed from a mother condor to an egg? What do we know about that potential source of lead poisoning?

[01:02:01]Is that Is that something that can happen?

[01:02:05]>> Um I don't believe so. I think it can be deposited it can can impact how they form the egg. You know, like with DDT that obviously impacts their ability to form an eggshell properly. You know, it inhibits that process and the eggshells come out thin.

[01:02:24]Um I I think there've been there it's been shown in some bird species to cause eggshell thing but it's in terms of them passing on the lead unless they're actually feeding their chick but to an egg um I don't believe it actually goes into the embryo if you know what I mean.

[01:02:42]Um I don't know if anybody's ever looked at that honestly but uh >> it's been studied.

[01:02:48]>> But just thinking of physiology I don't I don't know um if that could happen but I guess it could or or if it doesn't maybe it impacts some you know, could some of the development processes. You know, there's so many from the egg from the egg itself to the embryo. There's all these different components that if any of them are impacted the eggs would fail but I think we would see we haven't seen anything that suggests that you know, that these these young um condor chicks I would also say that know that based on blood samples we've collected on nestlings shortly after hatch.

[01:03:23]I've been zero lead, so um it's not until they the parents seem to bring it back to the chicks, you know, that and when they're feeding the chicks, they accidentally give the chick lead.

[01:03:35]But I would just say uh evidence would probably say no that it doesn't get transferred to the chick.

[01:03:42]>> Yeah, okay.

[01:03:44]Uh these are good questions today.

[01:03:46]>> Yeah, they're great questions.

[01:03:48]>> Um a question from Alva in uh New Tazewell, Tennessee. Uh are there any condors from the original wild populations still with us? And maybe I'll ask um Cara, if so, have you seen any of those birds?

[01:04:09]>> Well, first off, yes, there are still some and I have. Um there's one, his number is 20 and I believe he's I always get this wrong. I think he's AC4, which stands for adult condor number four. Um and he is part of the Southern California population, but there's I believe also a couple birds in the Arizona-Utah population and then of course in the captive breeding program as well. I have been able to see Topa Topa, which was like the most magical experience ever.

[01:04:41]Um but yeah, short long story short, yes, there are still original condors alive today.

[01:04:49]>> Yeah, I like the fact that there's a condor with the number 20. You know, you're talking about condor 1400 and and that's great. Um that's where we want to be, but it is uh it is really neat to think that when I was in sixth grade back in the early '80s, uh you know, there there there there you know, there's there were birds that still alive today. I think that's uh uh uh that's pretty incredible and it speaks to the longevity of condors when given the chance.

[01:05:22]>> Yes, some of those condors, Mike, they didn't know how old they were when they caught them.

[01:05:26]>> Right.

[01:05:27]>> So, they we and some of these birds could have been you know, they might be in their 60s or 70s now. We just don't know.

[01:05:34]>> Yeah.

[01:05:35]>> Just that are still alive. They some of those I can't remember exactly who, but there were a few caught that they did not know their age, but they they were adults when they caught them.

[01:05:43]In the early 80s, so minimum like, you know, it would be the late 70s. They'd be close to 50.

[01:05:50]Pushing 60, maybe.

[01:05:52]>> Mhm.

[01:05:54]>> Um Joe, what can you tell us about the uh chelation process? Could you just give us a a a very brief description of what that involves and and and what sort of cost that, you know, comes at to the birds?

[01:06:10]>> Yeah, uh chelation therapy, it's the same therapy they use for humans that become lead poisoned.

[01:06:16]Um it's a measured dose of calcium EDTA that's given to the bird based on their weight.

[01:06:23]And it binds with the lead and allows the birds to rid themselves of the lead, but the the issue with chelation and that being for humans, too, is it also takes uh good stuff with it. It also, you know, it's kind of like um we always do the analogy of like chemotherapy. You know, it kill you know, it kills the cancer, but it also can kill good it can also have major side effects. And so, the same with with chelation, what we've learned over the years, the vets have learned over the years, is they take a lighter approach because sometimes if a bird is really fragile, it comes in and it's very severely ill. If they come on too strong with the chelation, they can have that can actually compound things and actually stress the bird and you know, actually not make it better.

[01:07:08]You know, it's taking lead out, but it the process of chelation actually puts the bird over the edge. So, yeah, so chelation is one of the things that's it's not like a long-term solution. It's um the most intensive part about chelation is just the intensive effort it takes. The actual chelation dose is pretty cheap, but the amount of effort and staff it takes to treat a bird is immense and just the facilities and uh the medical cost, you know, that that go into it um it it's pretty huge. So, that's the part that we're trying to with the knowledge outreach trying to reduce the amount of birds we have to chelate, but it's it's been a great tool. I mean, chelation has definitely saved a lot of birds' lives.

[01:07:51]Um and now they do it in combination with other other things, but again, it's gone to a more lighter treatment regime, you know, I would say we've that's how we've evolved over the last 30 years.

[01:08:02]Um is to this uh you know, just basically letting the birds kind of give them time to heal from when they when they have this heavy traumatic dose of lead, you know.

[01:08:16]>> We're we're getting near the we're we're about out of time, but I do want to get to Sue's question from Costa Mesa.

[01:08:25]Um she is interested in this uh bill 556 and and I'm hoping maybe Kelly could uh offer some uh uh uh opinion about this. This is a this is some legislation that um was passed in the house and I believe it's still being uh considered in the Senate and that essentially blocks the uh blocks certain agencies from banning the use of lead in federal lands.

[01:09:01]And the question is what can I do or what can we do to oppose this?

[01:09:10]Uh Um Kelly, do you have any sort of thoughts on that bill and and what it might mean for California and what And and I'm seeing also in the comments or in the chats, what can we do as as as viewers of this chat? What can we do to promote non-lead ammunition? And so, do you have any thoughts on that bill and what the general public can do to oppose things like that?

[01:09:41]>> Yeah.

[01:09:42]Excuse me.

[01:09:44]Um yeah, I'm glad you brought that up cuz I saw Vicky's comment asking that that same question and I was hoping you were going to get to this.

[01:09:50]Um first off, I I'm not really tracking the uh federal bill that you mentioned all that closely um because I I think in many ways California um you know, has a statewide prohibition against use of of lead ammunition in in place already and and even even if the the federal level did some of the things that that this bill um suggests, I don't think it would have a an impact or at least a big impact in California.

[01:10:20]Um that said, um I do recommend that you reach out to your uh congressman and your senator uh and reach out to those representatives and and tell them that um you disagree with that with that bill.

[01:10:35]Uh ask them to to to vote no.

[01:10:38]Here in California though, we're doing a couple of things. Um one, behind the scenes we're working, uh meeting with state of California and US Fish and Wildlife Service and really trying to develop uh specific strategies on how we can increase funding and and increase access to non-lead ammunition across the state. It's really early in discussions now, um but we did just get a new grant from the state of California, which expands our non-lead outreach program. So, that is super exciting.

[01:11:08]Um and we will be advancing that this year.

[01:11:12]Um but legislatively in California, and this is what I really wanted to get to, we're developing a broad coalition.

[01:11:19]We're in the early stages right now, which is why you haven't heard us talk about it yet, but we're putting together a broad coalition of support to encourage non-lead ammunition um you know, better access to to non-lead ammunition in California. And notice, we're not we're not talking about taking anything away or banning or anything along those lines. Uh that that would really be a detriment to uh what we're trying to do here. Um landowners that have wildlife on their property are key to the success in all this, and we already have a law that requires the use of non-lead. We just don't have a market that quite supports it yet.

[01:11:58]So, we're going to be advocating things like uh reducing the tax on non-lead ammunition, um advocating for a non-lead coupon program statewide, for example, to uh really increase the demand and and uh lower costs and just, you know, make it more accessible for everybody. So, that those are the directions that we're going in.

[01:12:20]Uh I think it's counterproductive to try to take a ban any further. I think what we need to be doing is supporting the hunters and ranchers as best we can because that's what's going to get it done at the end of the day, and we know we're on the right track. We just need to keep doing more of it. So, anyway, I'm really glad that you brought that que- uh brought up that question, and uh watch later this fall, we're going to have uh more opportunities for for people all over to participate in in some advocacy way.

[01:12:51]Thank you.

[01:12:52]>> Yeah, thank you Kelly for for your comments.

[01:12:55]Appreciate that and it's it's something that I think we could talk a whole lot more about. But we have reached the end and Joe, I'll I'll let you queue up the next Condor chat.

[01:13:08]>> Thank you Mike, as always.

[01:13:10]And thank you to the crew and everyone and Cheryl and Patricia and everyone here.

[01:13:18]We're really excited for the event coming up and again, obviously next Condor chat, but if you can also attend our event on June 7th, that's great or jump on the auction. Any other thing you want to add, Kelly?

[01:13:31]>> No, that covers it. Thanks so much everybody. Hope to see you next time.

[01:13:35]>> Thanks