[RLS] California Condor Release 1

Prompt 2 - Finding Food (826 WC)

Dr. Juan Alvarez was fresh out of college with his masters when he first worked on the California condor project- it was one that was near and dear to his heart. He was excited to be working with them again in his role as an exotic vet; he was especially eager to get hands-on with the birds. His facility was proud to have been selected to host a clutch of four California condor chicks slated for release. These birds had been hand reared from the start, their parents were wild. It was an interesting system to get the fertilized eggs from condors and other birds of prey. They were simply stolen- taken from the nest while unattended and when the parents returned they laid another to replace it. This was not always successful, dud eggs and damage did occur, but for the most part it was quite efficient. One youngster was reared by humans, one youngster by the parents, twice the birds. Easy.

To avoid imprinting onto people, the birds were fed using handmade puppets that had tweezers for a beak. This method was highly successful and there was no reason not to continue to do it that way. So Dr. Alvarez put out a call to artists to create a custom puppet for their facility and was overwhelmed by the response. They ended up with two, beautifully hideous painted condor hand puppets, making feeding times with four birds a breeze.

Seeing as Dr. Alvarez was well known for his "thirst trap" style videos, the hardest part thus far appeared to be figuring out how to show off his muscles when he couldn't show any part of his body around the birds. They decided to make a video of Dr. Alvarez getting ready to feed the birds. The outfit was an altered bee keeping suit that they draped in loose material to hide his human shape, then topped with the puppet. There wasn't much way to make it sexy so he made it especially informative, talking about the numbers of California condors currently in the wild as well as the challenges they face. And, of course, they showed the condors eating. The babies were wobbly and ugly, puffy white balls with naked phallic heads. Dr. Alvarez was not the only one who fed them, of course, but when his schedule allowed he would pop over at mealtimes to observe, get b-roll, or feed them himself.

Today he started with the youngest of the clutch, 90, and he took his time with her, being sure to give her lots of love and nuzzling from the parental puppet. Condors were very doting parents and dedicated to their young for nearly two years, and even after that their territories would overlap for some time once the parents began to raise a new baby. The eight parents of the four condors they were raising were all proven breeders and their young tended to be vivacious and easy to rear in captivity. In fact one pair was so successful that they'd taken in an orphaned condor at the end of breeding season two years back and managed to feed their older chick and the new one at the same time.

The birds were not babies forever, though, and regardless of how long it took them to fledge, about five to seven months, they needed to learn how to find food on their own.

By the time the babies were starting to fledge they were moved to a larger, communal aviary where they could interact with each other and learn how to find food in a more adult way. They were introduced to new types of foods, and eventually to whole carcasses. As youngsters they were introduced to food that was safe and species that were local to California, but it was difficult to teach them food that was unsafe. One of the top threats to adult birds was lead poisoning from hunters that were non-compliant with the copper bullet requirements in California.

Raising the birds in Florida was turning out not to be the best bet and soon it was clear they'd have to be moved across the country for release. They'd continue their training with even more condors of similar ages from three different states once they arrived safely in the California facility. Dr. Alvarez went with them- flying to California and collecting the birds in his rental car after they were delivered safe and sound at the airport. Dr. Alvarez knew they were hungry from their long journey and when he arrived at the facility he was pleased to see that they were prepared to feed right away. The four birds were released into the same communal aviary. The ruckus was intense as they flew further than they'd ever flown before and immediately got bullied by the older residents. But the decaying pronghorn was too much for any of them to pass up and though they bickered, they ate.

Prompt 3 - Seeking Shelter (804 WC)

One of the benefits to training the birds for release in the California facility was their expanded aviaries. This gave the birds space to really work their wings and grow strong enough to fly for six to ten hours a day searching for food in the wild. There were thirteen total for this release class, but his four were the youngest. Numbers 85, 86, 87, and 90 were his birds, three females and one male. They each had their own quirks and preferences and Dr. Alvarez felt blessed that all four had reached this stage in their release journey.

Teaching the condors the safest places to rest was essential in preparing them for release. One important aspect of this training was to avoid a common condor hazard: power lines. Data had been gathered across condor territory determining that training the birds prior to release lowered their specific risk by around twenty to sixty percent, depending on the area of release. The adverse training was so successful that it had been implemented as the standard when releasing California condors, regardless of area.

Today would be the first time that 85, 86, 87, and 90 were introduced to the mock-pole set up in the outdoor aviary. It was a beautiful day, California was so lovely that Dr. Alvarez was afraid he was going to fall in love with it again and be tempted to move permanently. Perhaps lucky for him, every trip to the grocery store reminded him why he didn't live there. But, as he stood there watching his birds on the security footage, he could fantasize about being in such wonderful weather year round.

Given they were still being bullied a little by the older birds, Dr. Alvarez's gang, nicknamed the "Floridians" because biologists are really creative at naming things, didn't take long to find their way to the mock-pole setup. 90, youngest of the birds, landed with utmost grace upon the top of the fake power pole, earning a rapid, uncomfortable shock. She flapped off quickly. The other three were not aware of the problem with the pole but followed her, landing awkwardly all together on the same wooden platform rather than the mock-pole. This traffic jam, however, ended with 90 getting pushed off the platform.

The youngest condor flew towards the far end of the aviary, landed, and started to preen, as if she was totally fine and not offended by the shock followed by the shove off the perch. The other three went about their business of hissing and fussing, their clique divided for now.

Dr. Alvarez was back on the watch though as 85 hopped off the perch and landed on the mock-pole. Again, a shock and some angry flapping as the only male condor flew on, leaving 86 and 87 behind.

"How long does it take for them to stop landing on it?" Dr. Alvarez asked. He knew the birds were not being harmed but it was an interesting question anyway.

"Usually just once or twice, they don't really mess around when it comes to getting the zap," his peer answered. Dr. Alvarez nodded thoughtfully and wished, not for the first time, that he could simply explain the dangers of the world to his animals. Everything sure would be easier if that was the case. Not for the first time, Dr. Alvarez felt frustrated that they even needed to do this. It was amazing, yes, that aversion training saved many condor lives, but what about those born to wild parents without the training? He wondered if the condors who received the training imparted any of this wisdom onto their young, like the famous cougar Broketail that taught her babies to use wildlife crossings down near the Everglades. That wasn't the only thing on his mind, though.

"How do we stop them from collisions with turbines?" Dr. Alvarez asked. He knew a little about this, it didn't take deep Google work to read about the condor preservation effort, but this guy had been part of the program since 2022, maybe he knew more.

"Wind farms in condor territory have AI to prevent strikes from large raptors, but before that was a thing they relied heavily on our GPS trackers. Every condor we track sets off a warning for the wind farm and allows operators to slow or stop the turbines and avoid the collision from happening," the other man said. Dr. Alvarez nodded, he'd heard of that during his research but figured it didn't hurt to ask the occasional stupid question.

With one final sigh, Dr. Alvarez stood and headed for the door. He preferred to think that if they accomplished anything, they at least taught the Floridians how to avoid the wrong kind of perch, even if finding proper shelter was, for the most part, left up to nature.

Prompt 5 - The Release (853 WC)

Release day and it was a blustery one. California condors didn't need it to get aloft but it was all in the birds' favor, didn't hurt to have it. Dr. Alvarez worried, even if they were birds (irrational fears didn't make sense but that didn't make them less scary.) He was a worrier, he worried about his birds all the time and soon as they were released he would be checking their GPS daily just like his other releases. He had a ritual of checking his various GPS sites every afternoon when he took a break for lunch.

"It's the big day!" his assistant sing-songed as she approached him. He was outside by the aviary, watching as the birds were being caught and wrangled into carriers. This part was not fun and stressed the birds out quite a bit but those with the nets were professionals and Dr. Alvarez watched on. If anything were to happen he was literally standing right there.

"You know when there's a commercial and they're doing something dangerous and the bottom of the screen has tiny text that says it was supervised by professionals? It feels weird being that professional right now," Dr. Alvarez said, laughing along with her.

"I wonder who's supposed to doctor up the guys with the nets though…" his assistant wondered as she watched one of them carefully bundle his bird up into a carrier. "They're so big," she added, surprise in her tone.

"They are, they're ready to leave too," Dr. Alvarez said resolutely.

With the birds safely boxed up into thirteen carriers, the team started loading them into the two transport vans, managing to fit them all with the thirteeth carrier in Dr. Alvarez's rental. He and his assistant took point, starting the hour long drive to the closest release location. With that many birds they were moving them over three different release sites. Dr. Alvarez was lead at the first site because that's where his four birds were being moved from.

"Alright, have fun with team two," Dr. Alvarez told his assistant as he took the bird out of the back of his SUV. His assistant had wanted to take on a more hands-on role in the release and managed to snag a spot opening a kennel at the second release site. She grinned and waved, hopping into the driver's seat and pulling back onto the nearby dirt road where the transport van was trundling along towards them. Dr. Alvarez and his crew on team one unloaded the other three birds, turns out he had 87 with him already, and the transport van also left.

Dr. Alvarez took over with his team. They carried the birds, one per person plus someone carrying supplies, and started the short hike to the cliffside they'd picked out. Condors were large, soaring birds and relied on thermal updrafts to keep them aloft; having a nice starting space to take off was important for these young ones. Anything, really, to help ensure their survival.

Dr. Alvarez was swept up in the technicalities, checking on this, asking about that, wondering why the hell there were already people standing at the cliff. "Oh the press is already here," someone said and Dr. Alvarez groaned internally. He did not like having press at releases, but, condors were usually big news so he understood their role.

"Hello, hello!" he greeted the people already waiting at the cliff side. They were, at the very least, on the safe side of the guardrail. "We're going to need you all," there were half a dozen people and two children present, "To remain here for the duration of the release."

"Oh, we figured as much," one of the children said, which made everyone laugh. She was very sure of herself and it was refreshing.

"Are you big condor fans then?" someone else asked.

"Oh yes!" she said excitedly. "Can we see them?"

"They're probably pretty scared right now, we're better off just letting them head on their way," a nearby adult said. Dr. Alvarez smiled at them and nodded, heading over to the guardrail and carefully climbing over it. The rest followed suit and soon they had the release zone prepared.

One bird at a time, first 85, and her assigned carrier was placed at the fore. "Three, two, one!" everyone counted down with Dr. Alvarez. The door opened and 85 did not disappoint. She hopped out and hopped down towards the edge of the cliff before giving a hard flap and taking off. She was magnificent and everyone ooh'd and ahh'd as the press camera shutter clicked rapidly. 86 left, and then 87 and finally it was 90's turn. First check on the GPS, then she was gone like the rest.

"Wow, that's it, huh?" the child from earlier said as they climbed back over the railing.

"That's it," Dr. Alvarez agreed. "You can track them online." Someone handed her a card that had a QR code to the condor tracking site. "Thanks for coming out, it means a lot."

"Thanks for doing this. It means a lot to me and the condors."