Four California condors will be released into the wild from Big Sur on Tuesday morning for the first time and anyone in the world can now watch these endangered birds transition from captivity to life via a live-streaming webcam.
The release will begin at 10 a.m. and be streamed here on the Oakland Zoo website, and the Ventana Wildlife Society website.
One of the birds being released is a condor who suffered a broken wing in 2013 while still a chick. At just two months old, she was taken from her nest to the Los Angeles Zoo for treatment, Oakland Zoo officials said. She is now ready to be released less than a mile from her parents and the nest she was born into. The other three condors being released are males born in 2011 and 2012.
This particular condor release is significant because eleven birds in Central California were lost in 2013 due to lead poisoning and other causes, officials said in a statement.
As of as of Jan. 31, there are a total of 410 living condors, of which 232 are in the wild. Fifty-eight condors reside in Central California. Besides the release site in Big Sur, condors are also being released in Baja California, Mexico, Southern California, and in Arizona near the Grand Canyon.
The livestream is a collaboration between Ventana Wildlife Society and Oakland Zoo, with funding provided by FedEx and made possible through CamZone Networks.
