If you live in the Santa Clarita Valley and are still waiting to catch a glimpse of a California condor, even though you live on the doorstep of the condor refuge area, you’re in luck — because the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has set up the condor cam to monitor the development of a recently born chick.
Officials at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Hopper Mountain National Wildlife Refuge near Piru, announced Wednesday that they will be live streaming real-time video of a cliff-side nest in the refuge.
The live monitor features the development of California condor chick No. 980, which hatched April 10.
Although it’s not a particularly catchy name, Chick no. 980’s parents are 9-year-old female condor no. 563 and 19-year-old male condor no. 262.
“This is the pair’s first nesting attempt together and their first year on the livestreaming Condor Cam as a pair,” Fish and Wildlife spokeswoman Robyn Gerstenslager, wrote in a news release issued Wednesday.
“This is female condor no. 563’s second attempt at raising a chick, and the chick’s father, condor no. 262, fledged one other chick in the past with a previous mate,” she reported.
Followers of the California Condor Cam watched a chick hatch live in the wild for the first time in history from another cliff-side nest on Hopper Mountain NWR in 2015.
Since then, live streaming video of California condor chicks have gained worldwide attention — attracting hundreds of thousands of viewers from all over the world.
“Today’s technology allows researchers like us to observe nests in remote locations without having to trek into the backcountry and wait for days, sometimes weeks, at observation blinds for a glimpse of the condors,” Dr. Estelle Sandhaus, the Santa Barbara Zoo’s director of conservation and science, was quoted as saying in the news release.
“With this live stream, the public can share in the thrill of seeing these rare and highly endangered birds care for their chick, and follow its development before it takes its first flight.
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