California Condor #194, aka "Whalewatcher"

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Hatchday: June 29th, 1998 Hatch location Los Angeles Zoo Sex: Male Current Status: Partnered with Traveler (#171) Offspring: Foster father of #475, Current location: Big Sur, CA

After release, Whalewatcher showed an adventurous spirit, often leading the way into new parts of Big Sur. Condors were not documented feeding on dead stranded whales until 2006, but five years earlier Whalewatcher was seen circling over a whale - although he never fed on it. He was the only condor in our Big Sur flock to find this prize and has since shown he has superior foraging skills, and continues to find and feed on many marine mammals when they wash ashore dead.

Every condor has a medical file which accompanies them from the zoo to the Big Sur release pen. A clerical error in the file led us to believe that Whalewatcher was female for many years. Only after reaching sexual maturity and seen behaving in very masculine ways did we realize the mistake and classify him as male. He successfully raised chick #475 to fledging age, and participated in vigorous territory defense when female condor Slope Slug invaded his territory and was aggressive towards his foster chick.

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