November 26, 2004
Arizona Condor Chicks Take Flight !!
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The chicks at Vermillion Cliffs National Monument and Grand Canyon National Park have fledged.
Read the news flash below from the Grand Canyon Science Center to the observer team (and fans.)
Hey everyone,
It finally happened--350 fledged! On Thanksgiving day at 4:46pm, 350 decided to throw caution to the wind and launch from the nest cave. He/she had seemed anxious several times in the past few days, but what finally pushed him/her to jump seemed to be the lure of 122 perched on the redwall just south of the nest. 350 looked a little unsteady at first, but managed, quite impressively, to glide all the way across the cove to the south of the nest almost 1/4 of a mile before being forced because of difficulty landing on the cliff to turn and descent to the base of the cliff. He/she landed nicely on a large boulder at the base of the redwall just south of the nest. By nightfall, 350 worked its way up on a large boulder where it spent the night.
Congratulations to everyone for your hard work and dedication throughout the year, and I'll make sure to give more details soon. I'll send another message[soon]with more updates. Also everyone is more than welcome to continue monitoring the chick for us, it just means people will have to find it first!
P.S. The Vermillion Cliffs chick (#342) fledged successfully two days ago (Nov. 23). It continues to do well, but hasn't taken any more flights.
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