Within a few hours of their release the white tags were showing great poise in the sky. The most notable and longest flight this month was by Condor W22, a female. She flew approximately 20 miles north of the release site, stopping to rest in redwoods along the way. The entire journey took her approximately six days. Feeding with the entire wild group is a very challenging task for the new birds.
Older condors dominate the carcass through brute force and intimidation.
The white tags are now at the bottom of the condor social hierarchy so they need to be very strong, or very creative, to find an opportunity to feed. W19, a male, took the straight-ahead approach and confronted the most dominant, intimidating wild condors. W31, a female, used a less confrontational strategy and chose to attempt feeding when the most dominant condors were not present at the carcass. This is one of the most important and challenging tasks these new birds currently face and will continue to confront in the coming months. Learning to fly was just the tip of the iceberg.