Natural History Wanderings

The San Diego Union-Tribune reports

The California condor doesn’t need more bad news. Captive-breeding programs have brought the bird back from the edge of extinction, but habitat loss and lead poisoning have prevented a stable recovery in the wild.

A new study from UC San Diego raises more reason for concern: A wild population of condors along the central coast in Big Sur has been exposed to pesticides and other toxic substances linked to thinning of eggshells.

About 40 percent of breeding-age condors along the coast have been exposed to DDE, a form of the banned pesticide DDT, which is found in the carcasses of marine mammals — like sea lions — that the scavenger birds regularly feed on.

Read full story at Toxic diet of coastal condors threatens reproduction: UCSD study finds California condors along Big Sur feed on polluted marine carcasses | SanDiegoUnionTribune.com