SCOTT DETROW, HOST:
The California redwoods are alive with the promise of a wild condor egg. Scientists say two of these majestic, giant vultures are showing signs of tending to an egg high up in an old-growth redwood tree. This is the first time that has happened in that part of northern California in more than a century. Tiana Williams-Claussen is a member of the Yurok Nation and directs the tribe's wildlife department. She and her colleagues have been eagerly tracking these birds, and she's with me now. Thanks for coming by.
TIANA WILLIAMS-CLAUSSEN: Thanks so much. I'm glad to be here.
DETROW: I want to start with this 'cause I thought it was interesting. And I imagine it might be a little frustrating to you. Nobody has actually seen the egg yet. Is that true?
WILLIAMS-CLAUSSEN: That is correct. It is a little bit frustrated. We're so excited about this. But it's also a really good sign because that means they've picked a really great spot. It's very remote.
DETROW: OK.
WILLIAMS-CLAUSSEN: But it's a really great spot, so kudos to them.
DETROW: Tell me more about how you and others are monitoring this, what you're looking for and what sort of clues that you're seeing that makes you feel confident.
WILLIAMS-CLAUSSEN: So our first clue was really seeing that we had formed a pair between our two eldest male and female, Ney-gem' 'Ne-chween-kah, which means she carries our prayers, and Hlow Hoo-let, which means I or we finally fly. So that's the female and male respectively. We realized last year that these two had paired off because they were spending more time exclusively together, and kind of going in what we recognize by their satellite feeds as a nest-searching pattern.
We saw them kind of focusing on two different spots and then settling in. And then what we found and have been continually watching is this very traditional pattern of one of the condors being at the site consistently while the other flies around, gets food, gets water, gets whatever it needs. And then swapping off, because that means that they are incubating an egg and both contributing to make sure that it's kept the appropriate temperature.
DETROW: I love the idea of these giant birds with their big wingspan up in these giant redwood trees. It's just, like, a very nice image to think about.
WILLIAMS-CLAUSSEN: It really is. And we've got some beautiful, big country around here. It's very mountainous, lots of deep hills and valleys and creeks. We're right next to the Pacific Ocean. You add these huge, iconic birds as well with the giant redwoods - it's the largest trees in the continent - and, you know, it's a pretty amazing picture.
DETROW: You talked about the birds' names. Can you talk more about the significance these condors have for the Yurok people?
WILLIAMS-CLAUSSEN: Yeah. So the Yurok people - many of the people in this area, actually - we consider ourselves to be world renewal or fix-the-Earth people. And we consider our foundational reason for being here on this earth, to help maintain and caretake balance in the world, whether that's spiritual, physical, ecological. All of it ties together. And so condors, in particular, as a scavenger, are ecologically a very important part of that cycle of life, of taking what's died and bringing it back into the living cycle again.
They also tie spiritually to our peoples in that in our beginning times, in our creation stories, it's believed that condor featured heavily in creation of what we call our world renewal ceremonies. And they also, we believe, carry our prayers across the world when we're asking for the world to be in balance. They actually fly higher than any other bird at about 15,000 feet. And so from an ecological perspective, if you want to combine the two, that makes sense as well.
DETROW: California condors are pretty seriously endangered. And is it fair to say that this egg itself, the odds of it hatching and producing a healthy condor are kind of long, even though everybody's hoping for the best? Is that a good way to think about this?
WILLIAMS-CLAUSSEN: It is. The first egg of newly paired California condor pair is a pretty precarious position because, honestly, these guys are inexperienced. They've never done this before. And that egg takes constant attention. So even if they, you know, both step aside simultaneously for, you know, 10 to 15 minutes, that could mean loss of the egg. So it takes a lot of commitment to be a condor parent.
DETROW: So given all of that, what's the best way to phrase the mindset of you and the others who are closely monitoring this? You have such high hopes. There's little you can actually physically do yourself. Like, how are you feeling as you monitor and watch and wait?
WILLIAMS-CLAUSSEN: I mean, regardless of whether this egg is successful, this is a major milestone for us. It's incredibly exciting. But we're really, really hopeful that this egg comes to fruition and we get to meet our first new wild fledge condor.
DETROW: That is Tiana Williams-Claussen, director of the Yurok Tribe Wildlife Department. Thank you so much.
WILLIAMS-CLAUSSEN: Thank you. This was great. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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