Inspired by the Raven

Young A'lala by Amanda Corlies Sandos

It wasn't just Edgar Allan Poe who inspired my  fascination with the raven, though he very well may have started it. Of course, in my youth, I had no idea how to tell a raven from a crow from any other Corvid. But, I soon learned, because the idea that a bird could be smart really sparked my imagination. So, I was pretty young when I started making friends with all things raven. I tried to talk my mom into letting me have one as a pet. That idea, sadly, never flew. Probably, because I'd already tried to talk her into all kinds of other pets, and she was wise to my antics.

Begging Baby A'lala by Amanda Corlies Sandos

Anyway, as you know, I eventually ended up working with birds, and I was always quick to volunteer for work with any member of the Corvid family. About midway through my zoo career, I landed a coveted internship with The Keauhou Bird Conservation Center on The Big Island of Hawaii.

Yes, I actually convinced my boss to send me to paradise for an extended stay and pay me for it, too. Officially, I went there to learn about incubation and hand rearing techniques for all of the highly endangered Hawaiian native species. Secretly, I was over the moon at the chance to work with Alalas. Also, called The Hawaii Crow, the Alala is now extinct in the wild. Though Keauhou has been trying a release program to restock the wild population, the release efforts have not yet been successful. For now, they continue to work towards freeing the environment of disease vectors and introduced species, and they are keeping the population alive entirely through their captive breeding programs.

Feeding with a puppet by Amanda Corlies Sandos

Getting to know these amazing birds was an adventure. They are incredibly smart, smarter than my imagination even gave them credit for, and each one has a very distinct personality. I made quite a few Corvid friends in Hawaii, and they continue to spark my imagination in more ways than one.

Ravens and Crows continue to frequent both my visual art and my writing. When I sat down with Andi Lea and West Thornhill to brainstorm a new young adult scifi fantasy adventure series, we quickly came to the decision that we wanted all of our characters to go to the same high school. Of course, this meant finding a mascot. In my book, you can't find a better mascot than a raven.

As it turns out, we named the whole project The Ravens Crossing, and I'm extremely proud of it! 

         And every time I hear the name, I am reminded that the inspiration came from my friends the Alalas.

Alala by Amanda Corlies Sandos

Check out the Condor Cam

Photo by USGS photographer Sue Haig

The San Diego Zoo Safari Park has just announced a new California Condor cam. You will be able to check in with Sisquoc and Shahtash while they incubate their egg, and barring complications, watch them hatch and rear their chick.

The largest bird in North America, with a wingspan nearing ten feet, these condors are also one of our most endangered species. But, thanks to programs like San Diego Zoo Global's Condor Conservation, the wild population is once more on the rise, though there are still fewer than 400 known birds in existence.

For this reason, the San Diego Zoo practices careful monitoring and controlled breeding of captive pairs who's offspring might be released back into the wild. The program has successfully released around 80 birds using these methods. It remains one of the most successful captive breed and release programs of endangered species in existence.

Michael Mace, bird curator for the park, reports that Sisquoc and Shahtash are sitting on an artificial egg while their actual egg is incubated by the staff. Although this is complicated business, much more so than you might imagine, it is also a common practice with a very high success rate. Obviously, few organizations in the world do it better than these people.

I'm sure I've mentioned that for twelve years I was a bird keeper who did some of my own incubating and hand-rearing of endangered birds. About ten years ago, I was fortunate enough to land an internship under one of the San Diego Zoo's outreach programs, the Keauhou Bird Conservation Center in Hawaii. I learned from the best about the San Diego Zoo's hugely successful incubation rate and their hand-rearing techniques with the endangered A'lala or Hawaii Crow. The program uses many of the same techniques as the Condor Conservation Program, though, unfortunately their release rate has not been nearly as successful.

The image is of a condor chick being hand-fed with a puppet to avoid it imprinting with it's keepers. A'lalas are also fed using similar Hawaii Crow puppets. This feeding technique is often employed when the parent birds or other surrogate birds cannot be found to raise the chicks.

Anyway, what I'm trying to say is you need not fret too much for the egg. It will be in very good hands and safe from many of the things that might prevent it from hatching should it remain in the nest. Early in March, the egg will be returned to the Condors who will be none the wiser, and judging by the established success rate, the birds should accept it back into the fold without incident. They will most likely continue to hatch and care for the chick as if it never left the nest. So for now, expect only to see the occasional swapping of adult birds incubating, and some gentle turning and manipulation of their artificial egg. Mostly, they have a boring job of sitting still and keeping their egg at just the right temperature. The real excitement won't begin for those of us watching until March, when the egg hatches. I'll be keeping my fingers crossed for the condors and their keepers in hopes of another successful release to the wild.