PORTLAND, Ore. — Ten pairs of endangered California condors breeding at the Oregon Zoo’s Jonsson Center for Wildlife Conservation have produced six fertile eggs.
Bird curator Shawn St. Michael says condors can lay eggs as late as June and this could be the program’s best season.
Last year, the captive breeding operation turned out eight eggs and six chicks survived.
Wild condors lay no more than one egg per season. But keepers speed the process with captive birds using a method known as double-clutching, which has helped the species grow from 22 condors in 1982 to 347 when last counted in February.
The zoo joined the condor-restoration effort six years ago after building barns, nest boxes and flight pens in a remote Clackamas County meadow that is off-limits to the public.
So far, 19 chicks conceived there have survived and 10 fly free in California and Arizona.
Information from: The Oregonian, www.oregonlive.com
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