California Condor Nest Survives Timber Fire in Big Sur

A conservation organization has indicated that a California Condor nest in Big Sur likely survived the Timber Fire that impacted the region. Although the nest is currently unoccupied, it has been used for raising young in the past, and condors had visited it shortly before the fire.

The Ventana Wildlife Society, which monitors the nest with a camera installed in a redwood tree, noted that while some equipment on the ground was damaged, the nest itself seems to have been protected by the tree's canopy. The thick bark of redwood trees contains chemicals that help them withstand wildfires.

This nest was previously used to hatch a condor named Jade in 2023, marking a significant event as Jade returned to the nest, the first documented case of a juvenile revisiting its birthplace. The California Condor population has rebounded from near extinction in the late 1980s, with current estimates showing 607 condors, of which 392 are in the wild.