California Condor controversy, Montezuma County

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Tom Wilberding

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Apr 18, 2015, 5:14:45 PM4/18/15

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Hello birders,

Not to beat a dead horse or a live condor, but I emailed ABA and got a reply that California Condor N8 is ABA-countable. Morally, ethic'lly, spiritually, physically, positively, absolutely, undeniably and reliably countable. I must aver, ABA thoroughly examined her. And she's not only merely countable, she's really most sincerely countable. So ding dong, see it and add it to your ABA list, if you keep one.

Should CBRC add this bird to the Colorado state list? That’s another kettle of fish

Here is the email from the ABA:

From Nick Block
RSEC Secretary

Hi Tom,

Greg Neise forwarded your recent email to me. I've added my comments below. Bottom line - you may count the condor!

Tom: First, thanks for all you do to clarify ABA listing game rules. My question is about the California Condor. I read your Sept, 2014 rules, the four listable populations, etc. Fair enough. But how does one know if a particular California Condor belongs to one of the four listable populations? By tag number? What if it has no tag?

Nick: As far as I know, there are no condor populations at this point that are not countable. I think the four ABA Area populations that have successfully hatched young are the only populations into which new individuals are released. Thus, I think figuring out at which site a particular condor was released is moot. And if a bird has no tag, then it falls into the category of "not possible to reasonably separate the reintroduced individual from a wild-born individual" and is thus countable (see rule 2B.vi).

Tom: I read that N8 was raised at the San Diego Zoo and released a couple of years ago at Vermilion Cliffs. Do these facts disqualify it?

Nick: The fact that it was raised at the zoo does not disqualify it. This rule does not apply to reintroduced indigenous species; it only applies to exotic species.
I hope I've answered your questions! Please don't hesitate to email us at rs...@aba.org if you have any other questions!