CONDORS!

Last Tuesday, I went to Susucal in Ecuador to monitor wild condors with Amaru’s zoo owner, Ernesto Arbelaez, and workers from the Environmental Ministry. While we did not get to see any during our day trip, we got to see plenty of wild vultures including red headed, black headed and possibly yellow headed vultures. We set up a camera trap, so any activity at the carcass location will be recorded. Hopefully by the end of the week we will have video evidence of Condors! This monitoring is part of larger national effort to find out which locations are vital for Condors in Ecuador. Susucal is one of the few spots that not only has had tons of Condor spottings, but also scientific evidence of past nesting spots. This means it might be one of the critical locations to preserve for future Condor conservation.

Driving in Susucal on a very winding and narrow road. At points it looked like it disappeared!

Wild vulture in flight! (look at the center black dot)

The view from around the camera trap.

Camera trap!

More views!

And more views!

Ernesto taking pictures of the views.

 More views!!

We saw rain in the distance and this beautiful rainbow!

Ernesto stopped the car to get a look at a dearly deceased snake of some sort. 

One of the hardest aspects of Condor conservation is getting the support of locals, particularly rural farmers. Many locals believe that Condors are bad for cattle, and have claimed for years that they attack and kill calves. Because of this, many locals used to purposefully kill as many Condors as possible. Many scientists thought this to be pure myth, as Condors are essentially large vultures that scavenge for food; however, this “myth” was proved to be true when a recording of a Condor killing a calve surfaced. It is hoped local opinions can be changed through education as Condors function as a keystone species, have vital impacts on disease control in ecosystems, and are of cultural importance.

Speaking of Condors, the new exhibit is coming along nicely, and will hopefully be finished within a few more weeks!

The last ten days or so have been extremely busy as I started working the typical Zookeeper shifts, ten days on and four days off. In this time, Ernesto and I have been plotting and have plans for new aviaries for our quarantine section and even the creation of an educational meet-a-patient program. More updates on these and enrichment plans to come! In these last ten days I have continued to take Spanish lessons and have even gone to a cooking class and learned how to make Mote Pillo! In this time I have also realized that I have constituently accidently said jueves instead of huevos, which means I have been saying Thursdays instead of eggs. No wonder why people give me the strangest looks when I try to order eggs. WHOOPS. For me, that’s one of the best parts of Spanish class, is learning about all the silly mistakes I have been saying. I also realized I have been pronouncing años like “anos” instead of “aneos”. This is particularly funny because it means I have been saying I have 20 anuses, when meaning to say I have 20 years (for non-Spanish speakers this is how you say you are 20 years old). I'm sure I will continue to say hilarious things as I learn more, and I'll be sure to share!

Until next time!

Kristen 

PS. If feeling inspired and you want to help, please consider donating! Donations can be made on the National Aviary website by entering Bioparque Amaru in the comments field.