Rare California condors threatened by fires

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Naturalists feared on Tuesday forendangered California condors caught up in a massive twoweek-old blaze still sweeping through the scenic Big Sur area.

The fate of three condor chicks born in the wild in April-- key to the reintroduction in California of the threatenedspecies -- was unknown. One nest was in the path of the fireand flames damaged an aviary where captive chicks are trainedbefore being released into the wild.

"We have three mating condor pairs this year and threeactive nests that we are really concerned about. We don't knowif the chicks are dead or not," said Cathy Keeran of theVentana Wildlife Society. The society is the only nonprofitgroup releasing and managing California condors in the wild.

Keeran said eight captive chicks had been rescued byhelicopter just before fire went through their home in thesociety's aviary in a remote Big Sur canyon last week.

The Big Sur fire, sparked by lightning strikes on June 21,has consumed more than 80,000 acres (32,000 hectares) anddestroyed 48 homes and other buildings, fire officials said onTuesday. Containment is not expected until the end of July.

A three-day heat wave forecast for central and southernCalifornia starting on Tuesday is expected to bring tripledigit temperatures and low humidity, further complicatingefforts to control the Big Sur fire and another blaze furthersouth near Santa Barbara that has charred 9,700 acres (3,600hectares) in seven days.

Fire has already swept through a wild area where one of thecondor chicks was nesting. "We did fly over the nest and we sawthe area was burned but the redwood tree (containing the nest)was still standing," Keeran said.

The two other chicks have nests closer to the Pacific Oceanbut their fate in the thick acrid smoke covering the region isnot known, she said. California condors have a low breedingrate, laying eggs only once every two years, and chicks dependon their parents for more than a year.

The Ventana Wildlife Society (www.ventanaws.org) manages 43wild condors in the Big Sur area. The birds are equipped withtracking devices and the society puts out food to supplementwhat the carrion-eaters find in the wild.

"We have a couple we have not been able to locate.Hopefully their transmitters are just not working properly,"Keeran said. "Most are staying very low and towards the coastand in the fog line, so they are flying around the fire."

Naturalists have been struggling to prevent the extinctionof the California condor -- the largest bird in North America-- for more than 40 years.

The bird was declared an endangered species in 1967. Tenyears later, there were only an estimated 25-30 birds in thewild until scientists began capturing and breeding them incaptivity before releasing them, with mixed results, in themid-1990s.

(Editing by Sandra Maler)