The Great Auk and other "Extinct" Birds

NOTE.  I'll be taking a blogcation for the next several days.  Until then, I have some great posts scheduled.  Talk to you all soon.
After a late night read and lots of afterthought later, this post was created. If you are like me, you may have a hard time reading this. But after my websearch, I have a little more historical knowledge on extinct birds from the recent past.  If you've followed my blog for awhile, you all know that I am closely keeping an eye on cloning and threatened or extinct creatures.  Man is quite a stain on this planet.  We are the one animal that has caused mass extinction for many creatures great and small over our thousands of years lifespan. Today some believe we face the 6th extinction ....our own. Before I begin, I have done a lot of research on several topics about extinction.  It ranges from species labeled Extinct to Returning From Extinction.  I think these are incredibly fascinating reads.  But that's just me:) Today I address another idea around the theme of extinction.  What if a bird were labeled extinct, yet still lived?  The 1800's were especially difficult on the bird species.  Mass hunting and fashion around the world put many birds at risk.  A century later, DDT would take more birds like the California Condor or the Bald Eagle to near extinction.

Pictures taken from Wiki

One evening while investigating a potential area to find the Rufous Hummingbird, I found a link to extinct birds.  As a child, I was always saddened by what humanity was doing to this world.  And I clicked the link.  I didn't expect to be caught up for hours researching endless pages about these extinct birds.  My questions would lead to more questions and then my thoughts would spiral out of control.  Eventually I had to go to bed and sleep.  I had work the next day:(  It was one of the hardest things to do.  My heart is in the field.

But what kept me up all night was the mystery of the Eskimo Curlew.   Is it extinct or not?  Could the Great Auk be cloned back into existence?  Those two topics pushed me to read more....and more.....and more.  First, the Eskimo Curlew.  Listed as critically endangered, most think this bird is extinct.  Yet random reports keep coming up that these birds still live here and there. Some even know where some of these birds still breed. But it's kept "secret".  From what I gathered, a reliable ornithologist from Wisconsin heard this bird in Nova Scotia.  I imagined knowing all that you could know about birds....going into an area to bird....and then listening to something you've never heard before.....and then seeing this strange miracle in person.  Imagine how you would feel.

The thrill of being out in the field is like that for me everytime I go.  I don't take any bird for granted.  The above map shows us where the Eskimo Curlew once numbered in the millions.  They were hunted by people, but the extinction of a grasshopper over the destroyed prairie lands ended the mass migrations.  And soon the millions of Eskimo Curlew would disappear to one last confirmed sighting on Galveston Island, Texas in 1962.  Reports would spring up from different areas saying that this bird was spotted.  However no photos or video exist.  Could this bird still be alive? And if so where?  The mythical Unicorn or Dragon of our times.  For the spiritual, the Holy Grail.  And for the birder, a possibility.  But moving on....

My research then moved to the curious looking bird known as the Great Auk.....related to the penguin.   However it looks more like a Dodo bird which is also extinct.  This bird is most definitely extinct. The last bird was killed on July 3rd, 1844.  These large birds were hunted for their feathers and eggs. And similiar to my own adventure to Bird Island off the coast of Mexico to find the Blue Footed Boobie, these great birds would be found on isolated islands around Scotland and Norway.

The last colony of Great Auks lived on Geirfuglasker (the "Great Auk Rock") off Iceland. This islet was a volcanic rock surrounded by cliffs which made it inaccessible to humans, but in 1830 the islet submerged after a volcanic eruption, and the birds moved to the nearby island of Eldey, which was accessible from a single side. When the colony was initially discovered in 1835, nearly fifty birds were present. Museums, desiring the skins of the auk for preservation and display, quickly began collecting birds from the colony. The last pair, found incubating an egg, was killed there on 3 July 1844, with Jón Brandsson and Sigurður Ísleifsson strangling the adults and Ketill Ketilsson smashing the egg with his boot. Source  Could cloning bring this bird back from extinction?  78 skins, eggs, and several eyes and organs have been stored.  How terrible does all this sound?  For myself, it makes me look at humanity and what we are doing today.  I imagine myself boating past the Great Auk Rock wondering what these birds sound like......and I look at birding differently. I also imagine the eery silence that once contained "many voices". Let's just say that  I don't take things for granted anymore.

I'd like to end on more hopeful note.  Another bird listed as definitely extinct is the Ivory Billed Woodpecker and yet......it too is still "seen" now and again. Is this just another UFO story?  Is this bird really extinct? Some birders claim to have recently seen it.  And yet it is listed as extinct. While most of this is negative, I still hold hope that they are out there....away from people.  Afterall, it's what excites us all......the possibility of spotting something rare like a Jaguar or Mountain Gorilla.  The Jaguar was said to be extinct in Southern Arizona and it has quietly returned.  Some believe they were there all along.  Keep hope that we all can learn and teach others about our past mistakes.  One final random thought....and it's random. Here it is:)  I think the reason why I connect to Lord of the Rings so much was because the story addresses mortality.....the departure of magic and elves.  Perhaps that's why the movie "Avatar" was such a hit.....it strikes a chord with people.  It makes us aware that life is precious in any form. Can humanity reverse the damage done from our past mistakes? If it's one thing that's certain, it's that we need to be better caretakers of this planet or we will definitely face the 6th extinction.  And then either cockroaches, pigeons or rats will take over.....

The Condor Corridor

Pics courtesy of Wikipedia.org

Over a two week period, we did some truly intense road tripping.  While it was fun and educational, it was also exhausting.  Tomorrow we'll be visiting the Grand Canyon and taking a look at this natural wonder of the Earth. Today's post is really a continuation on nature from yesterday's write on endangered/extinct animals.  And there is hope for the California Condor.  During our trip to the Grand Canyon, we went to an outdoors lecture on this extremely large and ugly scavenger:) In 8th grade, I remember learning that this bird was extremely endangered at around 22 birds left in the wild and I remember feeling really depressed.  The first time I heard the word "extinction" was from a class in kindergarten during a kid discussion on dinosaurs, but I didn't think it still happened in the world....until 7th grade.  That's when I felt the sadness and eventual anger from its meaning.  I remember it all too well during a talk on pesticides affecting bird eggs and how humans caused ALL of it.  The California Condor was the central topic and I truly felt there wasn't any hope at all for these incredibly ugly birds.  I sat making projections on the birds with my child mind and I got depressed because it all looked hopeless.  Fast forward to the future 30 years later.....

Note the tags on the wings of the condor.  This helps identify with the population study.

And the news is positive and the conservation efforts are looking great.  There are two genetically diverse populations now in both California and Arizona.  Why is it called the California Condor and not the Arizona condor?  Simple.  The last condor in the wild, at the time, was caught in California thus carrying the state's name. The last of the 22 condors were captured and placed into different areas to begin their breeding efforts.  As previously mentioned, condors produce 1 egg every year, but a researcher discovered that if you take the egg from the nest, the condor will lay another egg.  If you take that 2nd egg, the condor will lay another.  And if you take that 3rd egg, it WON'T lay another:)  Understanding this pattern helped increase the condor population quicker.  Two eggs would be held in an incubator and raised by human hands while the 3rd egg would be left for the parents to nest upon.   Egg shells at the time were extremely soft and had to be treated with extreme care.  The Condor program also had to create Momma and Daddy condor puppets to feed the new hatchlings.  Today the wild California Condor population stands at 356.  Two genetically diverse populations exist both in California and Arizona where their populations continue to grow undisturbed.

There are still breeding programs at several zoos in San Diego, Los Angeles, and Portland.    Today the condors still face lead poisoning along the northern rim of the Grand Canyon where hunting is permitted.  They also are treated occassionaly for "detoxification" and released back into the wild.  You may ask like we did, "How are they still being poisoned in such a natural and pristine area?"  The hunters use lead in the bullets.  When a bullet is shot and hits the target, the lead ball breaks up and scatters throughout the carcass of the animal killed.  Condors, being scavengers, eat the leftovers and absorb the lead from the animal.  The solution?  Conservationists and researchers now mandate copper bullets along the rim.  Condors are interesting birds because they will follow the hunters knowing that there is food awaiting them:)  They live in the sky caves along this immense canyon.  And here's one more thing that I thought was interesing about the scavenger bird community.....and a Pocahontas moment....the web of nature if you will and how they all connect together.  The Grand Canyon is home to so much life.  When something dies, the Raven finds the carcass.  The Turkey Vulture follows the Raven.  And the California Condor follows the Turkey Vulture.

Our presenter was fun and interesting.  I love success stories and I hope the conservation efforts continue for this incredibly beautiful part of our state.  I forgot about Phoenix and our embarrassement of a governor and thought....yes, we do have something positive that can make an Arizonan proud! I left this presentation with a smile on my face knowing that our condor friends were in good hands. More tomorrow....