Birds On The Line: Dorothy

One of my favorite birds on the World Bird Sanctuary exhibit line is Dorothy, the Andean Condor.  I have had the pleasure to watch this amazing bird grow from a chick to a young adult. 

Closeup of Dorothy (photo: Cathy Spahn) 

Every year (with each molt) her colors change as her feathers transform into those of an adult condor.  I remember seeing her for the first time in the summer of 2006 when she was with her parents in our behind the scenes Condor enclosure; she was this little brown fuzz ball.  It is now 9 years later and she is almost a fully feathered adult.

This little fuzzball is baby Dorothy napping (photo: Cathy Spahn)

The Andean Condor, Vultur gryphus, lives in the mountainous regions of South America.  The Andean Condor is one of the largest flying birds in the world.  They tip the scale at 20 t 25 lbs, are up to 4 ft tall, and have a wingspan up to 10 ft.  Adult Andean Condors are mostly black with a fluffy white ruff of feathers around their neck and white patches along their wings.  They also have grayish red heads, the adult females have red eyes, and the males have a fleshy lump on the front of their heads called a caruncle. 

The Andean Condor lays its egg in a cave or rocky area.  They lay only one egg every other year.  The Andean condor was placed on the Endangered Species List in 1973.  They have been the victims of over-hunting, killed because farmers thought condors were killing livestock.  In fact, as with all vultures and their kin, condors feed on carrion (animals that have already died).  Pesticide poisoning has also affected the population.

Many zoos and other organizations have worked on breeding the Andean Condor and releasing them back into the wild. World Bird Sanctuary assisted with this program back in the 1990’s and early 2000’s.  Dorothy’s parents, Gryph and Laurel, were housed at the World Bird Sanctuary for many years as part of the species survival program.   During the 10 years they were with us, they produced 6 chicks, 5 of which were sent to Venezuela for release to the wild.  Laurel and Gryph are now back at the Cincinnati Zoo, which was their home before they came to us.

Dorothy sunning (photo: Cathy Spahn) 

Dorothy is a very friendly young avian ambassador and can be seen many days sunning herself in her enclosure.  When vultures sun they sit with their wings open to maximize the amount of solar rays absorbed, somewhat like a solar collector.  Ultimately the sun transforms oils on their feathers into vitamin D, so when Dorothy preens her feathers, she takes in this important vitamin.

Dorothy is a very curious condor and loves to play with the toys in her enclosure.  She considers the hose a very special toy when we are trying to clean her exhibit or give her fresh water.

As with all of our resident animals, Dorothy is available for adoption through the World Bird Sanctuary’s Adopt A Bird program. Adoption does not mean that you can take her home, but you receive many cool items through the mail and you will help to feed and care for her during the coming year. If you are a fan of Dorothy’s please head to our website and adopt her.

Submitted by Cathy Spahn, World Bird Sanctuary Naturalist

More About Dorothy.....Condor Training

If you’re not already familiar with Dorothy she is our sub adult Andean Condor, and for the last two months I and a few others have been training her.

Dorothy, our young Andean Condor

We have been training Dorothy in a variety of different behaviors ranging from going to a particular location by verbal command to simpler behaviors like waiting patiently for her food reward.  There are various reasons why we are training with Dorothy but the primary reason is to provide her with an enriching and fun environment.

I have personally been around and known Dorothy for just 3 years now, but in that time she has come to be one of the most special animals I work with at World Bird Sanctuary.  Now if you have never seen Dorothy she is one of our largest birds at WBS, with a wing span of around 10 feet and weighing around 20 pounds. She definitely has a big character to match her massive size as well, and being a condor one of her strongest character traits is her intelligence.

The training has evolved greatly since September, through many training sessions and with instruction from my peers.  The goals have shifted and training style improved to efficiently get the most out of the time we spend with her.  The training technique that we are using is positively reinforcing behaviors with food and verbal praise. 

Dorothy about to receive a food reward 

Currently we are working on getting Dorothy to step to and stay on a scale so we can accurately weigh her. It would appear that this would be a simple goal, but I have learned that what would look to be a simple behavior is not always as simple as it appears.  This one seemingly simple behavior is actually broken down into many small steps and then these steps are combined to result in Dorothy stepping onto the scale and getting an accurate weight. 

We have started to train Dorothy to do this behavior by utilizing some of the behaviors she has already learned.  She will already go to her stump when called to it, so what we have done so far is to place another stump about 5 feet from the first one and placed the scale on it.   It has only been 5 days and we already have the two stumps next to each other and Dorothy is starting to put her toes on the scale to reach the food reward.  We are still far from getting the behavior down completely but every day she is getting closer to our goal of stepping to and staying on the scale.

                  

The last two months have been a learning experience—both for Dorothy and us (the trainers) as well.  At times it can be very frustrating, but as an animal trainer we must learn how to overcome the frustration, and keep looking at what we can do to promote a productive learning environment for Dorothy. 

Overall the time and effort that is exerted day in and day out is all worth it when you get to work with an amazing bird like Dorothy.     

Submitted by Adam Triska, World Bird Sanctuary Naturalist/Trainer

Dorothy

Dorothy, our Andean Condor, or Vultur gryphus in Latin, is one of our largest birds at World Bird Sanctuary.  She has a wingspan of roughly 10 and a half feet, which happens to be almost exactly twice my height!  

Dorothy, WBS's young Andean Condor

Currently Dorothy is enjoying her days on the display line where you can come and see her between 8 am and 5 pm every day.  

Dorothy was hatched here at World Bird Sanctuary from a breeding pair of Andean Condors that we had on a breeding loan from the Cincinnati Zoo.  Andean Condors mate for life and during that pair’s 10 year tenure at WBS they raised 6 babies; a very successful rate considering that in the wild they usually lay only one egg every 2 years.  

Someday soon Dorothy will sport the beautiful plumage and ruff seen here on her mother, Laurel

Dorothy’s five brothers and sisters were then sent back to Cincinnati Zoo where they were eventually successfully released back into the wild in western South America, where you would naturally find them soaring through the air.   WBS chose to keep Dorothy so she could be one of our many ambassadors to educate our guests about problems birds are having worldwide.  

In South America, Andean Condors are classified as Near Threatened on the IUCN Red List.  In the wild they face threats from poisoning and human persecution by farmers, who believe that the condors are killing their livestock.  

Thankfully Dorothy is safe here at WBS where after hours she is being trained. Hopefully she will star one day in some of our educational programs.  Adam Triska, a staff member at WBS, and I  have recently started working with her to teach her to go easily into and out of a large crate in case she would ever need to be moved.  We are also working with her to go to specified targets, much like our White Pelicans do during some of our programs.  

Andean Condors are very social birds in the wild, where there have been reports of up to 40 condors feeding from a single carcass.  Dorothy looks as if she really enjoys the company of working with us and doing things correctly.  She is also a quick learner--a sign of high intelligence.  She picks up on cues and body language much faster than many of the other birds.  

Here I am teaching Dorothy to go into and out of her crate

Training is going very well and Dorothy always seems to get excited when she sees us walking towards her enclosure with our training equipment.  So far this is just the beginning of her training and I find that I look forward to working with her at the end of each day at WBS.  

When you visit the World Bird Sanctuary be sure to walk down the exhibit line to see Dorothy.  You can’t miss her—she’s the REALLY BIG bird.

Submitted by Mike Cerutti, World Bird Sanctuary Naturalist/Trainer

The Andean Condor

I want to talk about Andean Condors today because at the World Bird Sanctuary we are fortunate enough to have one sub adult female Andean Condor named Dorothy. 

Dorothy can be seen on our display line

Dorothy is on our display line of birds.   The Andean Condor is one of the world’s largest birds.  Considered to be a new world vulture (which are not birds of prey), the Andean Condor is found on the western coast of South America and in the Andes Mountains.  The Andean Condor is primarily black in color as an adult, and uniquely designed for a scavenger lifestyle. 

The Andean Condor is one of two Condor species in existence today.  Stretching up to eleven and a half feet from wing tip to wing tip, the Andean Condor is one of the world’s largest flying birds.  Males can weigh upwards of 30 pounds and females weigh up to 24 pounds as adults. 

Laurel, an adult female Andean Condor is Dorothy's mother

As they age Andean Condors will become dark gray overall and will develop a white ring at the base of the neck and white wing patches.  Mature males look different as adults, with a dark red bump on the top of the bill uniquely called a caruncle.  Unlike old world vultures (which are considered birds of prey), the Andean Condor has feet designed more for walking instead of a hunting/or defensive tool.

Dorothy's father, Gryph, displays the distinctive caruncle sported by the males

Adapted well to the scavenger lifestyle, the Andean Condor will travel great distances to find food (more than 120 miles in one day), and will regularly use warm rising air (thermals) to efficiently travel long distances.

The Andean Condor has almost no plumage on the head and neck because often times they will plunge their whole head and neck into a carcass.  The lack of feathers helps keep the Andean Condor mostly clean.  The upper part of the bill or beak is hooked and perfectly designed to tear chunks of meat from an old carcass.  They will feed on the remains of almost any carcass and naturally will target the largest carcasses that are available.  They don’t need to eat every day because they will often times gorge themselves at a single sitting, eating more than 5 pounds of food at a time, and even to the point that they can’t fly until the food has been fully digested!

Being the largest vulture species in their native habitat of South America, Andean Condors are one of just a few species of vultures that will feed first at a large carcass because they have such a strong and powerful beak. The smaller vulture species depend on the larger species to tear through the very thick outer layer of skin.

The Andean Condor is a very impressive bird to see and we at the World Bird Sanctuary are so lucky to have Dorothy as an ambassador of her species.  In my opinion she is by far the most popular bird to come and see on our display line.  Dorothy has the uncanny ability to grab the attention of the guests and is a real treat behold.

That being said I encourage our visitors to stop by and see Dorothy on the display line.  If there are any questions that you may have regarding Andean Condors or Dorothy any interpreter at WBS would be happy to answer them.  Please stop on by!

Submitted by Adam Triska, World Bird Sanctuary Naturalist/Trainer

Meet Dorothy

Meet Dorothy, the Andean Condor, the largest bird at the World Bird Sanctuary.  I will tell you about her history, natural history, and how she has melted the hearts of so many people that have met her, including my own.

Dorothy was hatched here at the World Bird Sanctuary’s propagation building in 2006.  She is almost six years old now.  Her parents were on loan to us courtesy of the Cincinnati Zoo.  Her parent’s names are Gryph and Laurel, and they are involved in the Andean Condor Species Survival Program.

While they were here they produced six chicks, and four of those were released into the wilds of Columbia, South America.  Dorothy will stay here with us to be an education bird.  She has a wonderful personality to go along with her outstanding size.  During the times I’ve spent with Dorothy I’ve noticed that she always exhibits an endearing curiosity toward me and her surroundings in general--such as different landscaping in her exhibit, visitors and other birds in enclosures around her. 

Andean Condors can be found in the Andes Mountains along the Pacific coastline in South America.  They can be seen in open grasslands and high altitude regions in the mountains as well.  They travel to the coastal areas for food, but are uncommonly seen in forested areas. 

Condors are the largest members of the vulture family.  Andean Condors have a wingspan of 9 to 12 feet and stand four feet tall.  They range in weight from 20-30 pounds, and can live up to 50 years in the wild—often longer in captivity.  Their diet consists mostly of carrion (dead animals), but they will also search for seabird eggs and young animals, and will cover great distances soaring in the sky to look for food; sometimes up to 150 miles a day. 

These magnificent birds are an endangered species, with around 10,000 left in the world today.  Their population is decreasing due to illegal shooting, habitat disruption and secondary lead poisoning.  It’s also been theorized because there are so many feral dogs in South America now, the dogs consume all the dead animals before the condors have a chance to dine.  They do not sexually mature until six to eight years of age and then lay only one egg every one to two years.

These glorious birds have the most awesome ability to eat animals that have died from any disease or virus known to humans and not get sick! They are a dead end for disease.  Their stomach acid is so strong that it will stop anything in its path.  That’s pretty amazing!

Dorothy's father, Gryph, displaying his white ruff and his impressive caruncle--what girl could resist?

The Andean Condor is the only New World vulture to be sexually dimorphic.  Sexually dimorphic means that males and females of the same species do not look the same.  The male has a large, fleshy structure called the wattle which hangs below his beak and a comb (or caruncle) above his beak and eyes, whereas the female does not.  Sometimes vultures are gross, but we need them the most!

Dorothy's mother, Laurel, displaying the beautiful plumage and white ruff of an adult female Andean Condor

You are welcome to come to one of our annual events called International Vulture Awareness Day held on the first Saturday of September to see Dorothy and her cousins, the other vultures that reside at the World Bird Sanctuary.  Of course, our other birds will be there too!  You can learn many more amazing facts about Condors and Vultures during this fun filled day!

To see videos of Dorothy click here to go to our You Tube site and watch Dorothy receiving target training.  This is a positive reinforcement method used to train birds to go to a designated spot.  They learn that when they touch the stick (the target) they receive a reward.  In the video the trainer, Susan, is also using a clicker.  Every time Dorothy touches the stick, Susan clicks the clicker, which lets Dorothy know a reward is coming.  Clickers are important in training when a reward cannot be given immediately after the desired behavior.  When the bird is conditioned to know the clicker means reward, they accept the clicker sound as a reward until the real reward can be given.

As with all of our animals, Dorothy is available for adoption through our Adopt a Bird program.  To find out more information about adopting Dorothy click here (Link) or call 636-861-3225, ext 12.  All adoption donations are tax deductible to the full extent of the law.  

The next time you visit WBS I invite you to visit Dorothy on the exhibit line past the hospital.  She is definitely worth it!

Submitted by Lisbeth Hodges, World Bird Sanctuary Naturalist