It’s hard to imagine what a sky full of condors must’ve looked like. The birds, whose wing span was once measured at nine-and-a-half-feet long, haven't been seen in Northern California since 1892. A condo of condors must have provided a magnificent shadow at they glided over the Golden State.
Now, the Yurok Tribe – the largest Native American nation in California, located on the Klamath River – is helping rebuild the flock by releasing four young birds into the wild this year, as reported by The Guardian.
Called prey-go-neesh by the Yurok Tribe, these four juvenile birds represent hope that this delicate ecosystem can be restored on their fledgling wings.
“Condor reintroduction is a real-life manifestation of our cultural commitment to restore and protect the planet for future generations,” Joseph L James, the chairman of the Yurok Tribe, told the Guardian.
The release of the three males and one female, aged between two and three years old, has been decades in the making and may take place in just a few weeks. A federal grant in 2008 started the process with a feasibility study to determine if the birds could survive in our dramatically changed world.
Since these youths don’t have parent birds to guide them, an eight-year-old mentor bird has been housed with them. They’ve also learned from observing ravens and turkey vultures who regularly eat carcasses near them: it’s etiquette training for the birds who, when ready to be released, will go from their cage straight to a feeding opportunity. The birds will be tracked by radio and satellite GPS units to collect data and ensure their safety or, if the worst happens, to explain their deaths.
Why did the condors disappear a century ago? The Gold Rush spelled their doom with the felling of trees which were their habitat, the destruction of their food chain and the massacre of the Native American people who cared for the land. That means the release of these condors will be particularly poignant for the Yurok Tribe.
“As a people, we will not recover from the traumas of the last century until we fix our environment,” Frankie Myers, the Yurok Tribe’s vice-chairman, told the Guardian. “Our culture, our ceremonies, our wellbeing and our identity are inextricably linked to the landscape.”