#168 “Beak Boy”
Sex: Male
Hatch Location & Date: LA Zoo, 5/9/1997
Release Date: 1/19/1999
Parents: #20 and #29
Breeding Status: Paired with #208
Beak Boy was fostered by a pair of Andean Condors (which are larger and stronger than California Condors). His foster parents accidentally injured him during a feeding and his beak was broken. Bird beaks are very sensitive and this injury took time to heal before he could be released. He has fully healed, but sports a regal, prominent bump on his beak. Beak Boy is now one of the more dominant males in the Big Sur flock and holds his own when vying for a spot at a carcass.
In 2006, he paired with #208 and they have been inseparable ever since. This couple appears to us to have the happiest "marriage" of any of our paired birds. In 2007, they became the first pair to lay a fertile condor egg in the wild in Monterey County in over a century. VWS Biologists were unsure about the health of their first wild egg, so the egg was taken to LA Zoo. The egg later hatched successfully as #431, who was reared in captivity by a Foster Pair with hopes of returning her back to the wild.
In June of 2008, #431 and seven other condors were evacuated from a pre-release holding pen in Big Sur after a close call with a large wildfire. #431 was successfully released later that year at the Pinnacles and eventually reunited with her wild parents in Big Sur in early 2009. After several more nesting attempts, Beak Boy and #208 successfully fostered Condor #665 to the wild in 2012 and, as expected, were spectacular parents! Since then they have successfully nested several times.
In 2006, he paired with #208 and they have been inseparable ever since. This couple appears to us to have the happiest "marriage" of any of our paired birds. In 2007, they became the first pair to lay a fertile condor egg in the wild in Monterey County in over a century. VWS Biologists were unsure about the health of their first wild egg, so the egg was taken to LA Zoo. The egg later hatched successfully as #431, who was reared in captivity by a Foster Pair with hopes of returning her back to the wild.
In June of 2008, #431 and seven other condors were evacuated from a pre-release holding pen in Big Sur after a close call with a large wildfire. #431 was successfully released later that year at the Pinnacles and eventually reunited with her wild parents in Big Sur in early 2009. After several more nesting attempts, Beak Boy and #208 successfully fostered Condor #665 to the wild in 2012 and, as expected, were spectacular parents! Since then they have successfully nested several times.
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