Three more juvenile California condors were released from their roomy fly pen on Dec. 11, bringing to 28 the total number of the giant birds that have now been released from the mountains high above San Simeon since 2016.

Twenty-five of those juveniles — not yet mature enough to mate or sport that red-orange head when released, but fully-grown with 9-1/2-foot wingspans — are flying free.

Two have died of lead poisoning — by far the biggest threat to condors — and the third died from unknown sources, according to Joe Burnett, lead biologist for the Ventana Wildlife Society (VWS).

Among the latest three released by the VWS is Artemis (No. 915), who was raised in captivity in the San Diego Zoo and hatched in April 2018. This condor is said to be the shyest member of her cohort.

Scary Spice (No. 906) was also raised in the San Diego Zoo and hatched in March 2018; she is named after a “particularly fierce member of the '90s pop group the Spice Girls,” according to notes from the VWS interns.

And the third bird released, Whiskey Papa (No. 921) was raised in captivity in the Oregon Zoo and hatched in April 2018. Whiskey Papa was lucky enough to have a private plane ride rather than a 13-hour road trip from Portland to Hollister.

He was transported thanks to the volunteer pilot organization, Light hawk, a conservation group with more than 300 pilots who donate time at no cost. Whiskey Papa was named after the final letters (“WP”) of the plane’s registration code.

The California Condor Recovery Program is plainly having an impact, given that the number of condors in the wild in 1982 was 22, and today 485 are flying free in the West, including 100 in California.

Its origins date to 1982, when a vigorous debate ensued about whether to allow the enormous birds to become extinct (“let nature take its course”) or to capture the remaining 22 and establish a captive breeding program.

The Ventana Wildlife Society, largely responsible for the resurgence of the bald eagle — whose numbers had plunged due to DDT weakening the birds’ eggs — began releasing condors into the Big Sur Wilderness from captive breeding sites in 1997.

Subsequently, VWS established a release site at Pinnacles National Park and, more recently, began releasing condors in the mountains above San Simeon.

Important nesting habitat — including hollowed-out trees and caves — and scavenging resources are abundant along the North Coast.

In fact, shortly after the first San Simeon releases began, two adult condors flew down the coast from Big Sur and established a nearby territory. They are the first condors to nest in San Luis Obispo County in more than 60 years, Burnett said in an email interview.

“The chick is going strong,” Burnett said.

Another condor release site is being established in Northern California at the Redwood National Park. The National Park Service in cooperation with the Yurok Tribe — the largest Indian Tribe in California — is bringing that project to fruition.

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