Mundo Azul

Condors are a species being very sensitive to environmental changes and human caused impacts because:

Their reproduction rate is very low: only one egg is laid and the young bird stays two years with its parents
They are a monogamous species. Breeding pairs stay together for many years.
A young condor needs six to eight years to become mature and starts reproducing.
Being one of the biggest birds of the world the condor does not go unnoticed, which makes him an easy target for hunters.

At the beginning of the nineteenth century, the Andean Condor bred along the entire chain of the Andes, from western Venezuela to Tierra del Fuego. Nowadays permanent habitat loss, dwindling food supplies, human persecution, and the impact of the pesticide DDT on the bird's reproductive success have restricted once-robust populations of the bird to remote sections of the high Andes in Peru, Chile, and Argentina.
There are a number of threats to condors:

Habitat loss: Human presence scares away condors.
Food competition by dogs: Dogs used to guard cattle and sheep have become competitors for carrion. They immediately start consuming dead animals. Research in Venezuela, Columbia and Ecuador has proven that about 30 % of the biomass from cadavers are eaten by domestic dogs.
Reduction of food resources by changing human activities: Transport animals like donkeys, mules, horses or llamas traditionally became food resources when they died accidentally in the mountains. But at present less Andean people use animals for transport and most prefer to use cars and trucks, reducing this way the food resources of condors.
Reduction of food resources because of human over harvesting: Along the Peruvian coast guano bird populations have dropped in 95 % during the last sixty years. Equally sea lion populations are dropping rapidly. Dolphin and sea turtle populations have dropped due to illegal hunting. Sea lion colonies are scared away by fishing, tourism and human presence. The sea lion colonies of the Ballestas islands have been reduced in 90 percent in the last ten years due to unorganized massive tourism. The sea lion colony on the San Gallan Island has suffered losses do to illegal hunting in order to sell sea lion penises for Asian traditional medicines and the sea lion colony of Morro Quemado within the reserve is permanently disturbed by fishing activities. These may be the reasons that no more condors have been seen in Paracas lately. Equally in the Peninsula of Bayovar local sea lion colonies have been nearly eliminated by human presence and fishing activities and human presence has increased manifold along the shorelines of the peninsula due to aquaculture development and human settlements, which might be the reasons for the disappearance of the condor in this area.
Human induced changes in biodiversity: In nearly the entire condor habitats humans have nearly extinct the wild species that provided carrion for condors (Vicuñas, Pumas and other big wildlife) and humans have introduced cattle.
Poisoning: In all andean countries were condors used to live cattle herders are used to poison carronage Esther to target predators liek the Puma or to directly target the condor who is believed to kill cattle.
Hunting: In Venezuela, Colombia, Chile and Argentina condors have been hunted as people thought they might atack humans.
Live capture: In Perú and Ecuador the use of live condors in local festivities may cause the death of the stressed and mistreated animals. In Chile, Bolivia and Peru there are still cases of illegal live capture for exhibition.
Contamination: condors fall victims to pesticide contamination and lead poisoning from ammunitions that remain in the carrion.

Off all these threats poisoning may be the most severe one. Poisoned carcasses are set out to kill predators of cattle like for example pumas. But farmers also believe that the condors themselves pose a threat to their livestock. Although condors are no birds of prey there are some reports of condors trying to chase lambs over cliffs or hurt them in order to later on feed on them. If there is some truth to these kinds of stories they are surely limited to few condor specimens and are surely the result of dwindling food resources forcing the condors to employ such behaviors. In order to defend their cattle farmers regularly do set out poisoned carcasses aimed at the condors themselves.
The 2007 IUCN Red List Category (as evaluated by BirdLife International - the official Red List Authority for birds for IUCN) lists the Andean Condor as “Near Threatened”. We are of the opinion however that the situation in reality is much worse than that:

Ecuador apparently has left only 65 condors, even though they are engaged for up to 20 years in conservation activities.
In Venezuela less than 30 condors are left and for Columbia 180 Condors are reported. But populations in both countries are dwindling and may be merely maintained by reintroductions and feeding. Thirty-nine Andean condors reared in North American facilities have been reintroduced into the wild in Columbia and Venezuela so far.
In the Apolobamba mountain range of Bolivia 78 Condors were estimated.
Organizations from Argentina and Chile point out to have the healthiest condor populations left but fail to provide any population estimate. On the other hand they have become engaged in reintroduction efforts claiming that local extinctions have been registered en several places like for example along the Atlantic coast in Patagonia. Where abundant populations had been found in the middle of the 19th century that nowadays do not exist anymore.

As it looks like the a big part of the battle for the survival of the Andean condor will be decided in Peru with its vast extensions of Andean mountain ranges giving home to several condor populations.

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BirdLife International set out 18 Important Bird Areas (IBAs) for the conservation of Condors in Peru:

Coto de Caza el Angolo
Chapari
Laguna de los Condores – Atuen
Parque Nacional Rio Abiseo
Santuario Nacional de Calipuy
Champara
Parque Nacional Huascarán
Cordillera Huayhuash
Lago de Junin
Marcapomacocha
Alto Valle Santa Eulalia
Bosque de Zarate
Reserva Nacional de Paracas
Reserva Nacional Pampas Galeras
Calhuanca
Santuario nacional de Ampay
Abra Malaga – Vilcanota
Valcon

However this does not necessarily reflect the reality, as there are several important condor areas in Peru that have not been listed by BirdLife International.

For none of the listed areas any population estimate of condors is known. In 2006 members of the Peruvian NGO Incaspiza observed 5-6 Condors in the Polylepis forest of Marcapomacocha and 6-7 condors flying over the town of Casapalca.

In some cases however, like for example the National Reserve of Paracas the evaluation is probably literature based as several researchers did not see condors in Paracas during the last few years. Neither members of Mundo Azul who worked during several years in Paracas in different field studies have ever seen a condor.
Equally members of Mundo Azul during three expeditions between 2002 and 2004 have never seen condors in the Laguna de los Condores.
Field surveys are urgently needed in order to verify the information given by BirdLife International.

Some preliminary observations from other areas however, put together by members of Mundo Azul and the participants of the Peruvian NGO Incaspiza indicate dwindling local populations, all over Peru:

In the National Reserve of Paracas condors have not be seen during the last few years.
In 1980-1982 63 condors have been studied in the area of the Peninsula of Bayovar, Huancabamba and Olmos and 21 nesting sites were registered. Members of Mundo Azul could observe in 2001 seven condors in the Peninsula of Bayovar. In 2004 one condor was seen and in later expeditions to the area no condor was seen at all. An observation confirmed by other researchers too. It seems there are no condors anymore in the Peninsula of Bayovar.
As it increasingly looks like the only coastal habitat left for Andean condors in Peru is the area of San Fernando. This area is not protected and is threatened by a private recreational developing project. The number of condors observed here nesting and feeding fluctuates between 6-7 and 18-20.
About 25 years ago it was a common sight in the Valley of the Apurimac River to observe two to three condors at a daily rate. Some reports mention up to 20 condors seen at the same time. However latest reports from four different visits mention that no condor was seen anymore in the area.
The Colca Canyon is famous for its condor observation point and more than 80,000 tourists are visiting the site every year in order to see the condors. However researchers feel that the unorganized massive tourism has become a threat to the condors and the population is said to start diminishing.

Other places were condors have been observed, but no population estimates do exist are:

Huchuy Qosqo, in the secret valley (in front of Lamay): two adult condores and a juvenile (2002 and 2003)
Q'eros Paucartambo: one condor (2005)
Abra Jampa Ausangate: one condor (2006)
Abra Kiswarani Lares (relatively close to Malaga): one condor (2006)
Members of Mundo Azul observed in two expeditions to the area of Acos, Chiprak and Rupak two and four condors.

Become a Mundo Azul conservation volunteer and help protecting the Andean Condor

Read more about the condors natural history
Read more about the condors conservation status