A California woman’s home has reportedly been invaded by a flock of endangered California condors.
In a series of tweets that have since gone viral, the woman’s daughter, Seana Lyn Quintero, said her mother’s deck had been “absolutely trashed” by 15 of the birds.
ENDANGERED CALIFORNIA BIRD TO BE REINTRODUCED TO SKIES FOR FIRST TIME IN NEARLY 100 YEARS
“Over the weekend ~15 California condors descended on my [mom’s] house and absolutely trashed her deck. They still haven’t left. It sucks but also this is unheard of, [there are] only 160 of these birds flying free in the state and a flock of them decided to start a war with my mom,” she wrote on Tuesday.
In photos attached to the tweet, the condors can be seen perched on the railing of the deck and are tagged with what SFGate reported are numbers that correspond with birds released in Southern California’s Kern County.
NBC Los Angeles reported Thursday that the home of Cinda Mickols was located in the mountainous community of Tehachapi.
“She does think this is pretty amazing but also the worst. They don’t have to leave her property but leave the house alone. They keep hanging out on her roof and railings messing with stuff and pooping everywhere,” she explained. “Trees are fine but not the house please.”
Quintero said on Wednesday that her mother was “reaching out to condor groups” in an effort to “maybe help keep them off her house” and that while the condors had returned to the neighborhood, they weren’t being quite as destructive.
“Still wild to me that in my lifetime there went from being about 25 condors left alive to now almost that many descending on my [mom’s] house at once,” she mused. “Makes me wonder if we will start seeing more giant flocks as their numbers rise (I’ve only ever seen 3-4 by her house before).”
California condors are the largest native North American bird and currently range from western Canada to northern Mexico.
Condor populations all but disappeared by the end of the 1960s due to poaching and poisoning; in 1982 there were just over 20 condors worldwide.
Condors were then brought into a captive-breeding program in an attempt to save the species from total extinction.
In this Thursday, July 10, 2008, file photo, a California condor is perched atop a pine tree in the Los Padres National Forest, east of Big Sur, Calif. A California wildfire that began Wednesday, Aug. 19, 2020, has destroyed a sanctuary for the endangered California condor in the Los Padres National Forest. AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez, File
(AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez, File)
Now, there are more than 300 California condors in the wild and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), National Park Service and Yurok Tribe announced in March the formation of a new release facility for the condors’ reintroduction to Yurork Ancestral Territory and Redwood National Park.
According to the San Francisco Chronicle, the project plans to release four to six juvenile condors each year over the next 20 years.
Responding to Quintero’s tweets, USFWS said her mother’s home was located in “historical condor habitat where natural food sources occur” and that condors “sometimes perceive houses and decks as suitable perch locations.”
The agency also advised that “hazing” to preclude the condors from causing damage and habituation is encouraged, including spraying them with water hoses, yelling, clapping, shouting and “other preventative measures such as scarecrow sprinklers.”
“We also discourage people from feeding them or trying to touch them. We hope this information helps if you experience this situation again,” USFWS said.
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In a Thursday update, Quintero said her mom had given two condors pictured in a photo on her roof a “shower” and that they returned to sit with the rest of the “flock” on her tree.
“Watching. Waiting. Doing condor things,” she added.
Fox News reached out to Quintero but did not immediately receive a response.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
