Recovery on the Cliffs

Explanation: Welcome to a special recovery location. We are in Arizona at a recovery site for the endangered California Condor.

On top of these sheer cliffs is a pen where immature condors -- bred, hatched, and raised elsewhere -- have been "hacked" ... meaning introduced to their new but natural environment.

This is a very distant view -- via a high telephoto lens -- of the
reintroduction pen way on top of these cliffs.

There are three immature California condors visible here,
all freed from their pens and perched on top.

"Hacking" birds of prey, including vultures, means reintroducing them
to a specific, secure site so they can acclimate to their natural
environment -- first in the pens, then released, as shown here.

Here is a "feeding puppet" used to feed hatched condors
in their breeding and hacking sites.

It is obviously a replica of Mom Condor, so the immatures
do not fixate on humans.



Here we see "whitewash" on the cliff face below the hack pen site on top.
The whitewash is sign that the released condors have used
ledges and niches in the cliff face to roost, getting them used
to such environments for their eventual breeding in the wild.



Finally, to mark the release site, note how the mailboxes
are adorned with wonderful paintings of the cliffs,
of trout, and of our iconic Condors.

EPOW - Ecology Picture of the Week