In the fall and winter months, biologists at The Peregrine Fund have a goal to trap all 110+ free flying condors in the Utah/Arizona population at least once to do an annual health checkup. Once a bird has been trapped, biologists will check the bird’s weight, hydration, keel score, fullness of their crop, the condition of their telemetry, GPS, and tags, as well as draw blood for a blood lead test. The blood lead test is the most crucial part of the annual checkup and the main reason why trapping occurs in the fall and winter months; this is the season that is during/after hunting season, when there is the most potential for lead to be on the landscape. If a condor tests high for lead poisoning, they are transported to an on-site treatment facility to receive daily shots of a calcium EDTAchelation therapy which binds to the lead to excrete it out of their body. If a condor has severe lead poisoning, it has serious effects on their nervous system, causing them to be unable to digest food or water. This is also why it is important to check their hydration levels and see if they are able to digest food out of their crop. After a few days of treatment and rest, condors will get another blood lead test to see if the levels have come down. If the levels are still high, they will receive another round of treatment, but if their levels go down enough, they will get released back into the wild! #CondorWeek