TEHACHAPI, Calif. — Cinda Mickols found some unusual squatters when she returned from a weekend getaway: A baker’s dozen California condors had invaded her home’s deck and several others were perched upon her roof.
“When I arrived home Monday, I was both amazed and angry at the condors. To have that many condors on my house was surreal; they can be destructive and messy. Nature is amazing!” Mickols told The New York Times.
The woman’s daughter, Seana Quintero, shared her mother’s plight on Twitter, complete with photos of the wrecked deck, toppled plants, ripped up spa cover and damaged screen doors.
“”[My mom] does think this is pretty amazing but also the worst,” she wrote. “They keep hanging out on her roof and railings messing with stuff and pooping everywhere. Trees are fine but not in the house please,” Quintero tweeted.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services weighed in, noting Mickols’ home outside the Southern California city of Tehachapi is located in a “historical condor habitat where natural food sources occur,” SFGate.com reported.
“Unfortunately, [condors] sometimes perceive houses and decks as suitable perch locations,” the agency tweeted. “If this happens again, hazing to preclude them from causing damage and habituation is encouraged.”
With a wingspan of 9.5 feet and weighing about 25 pounds, the California condo is the largest flying bird in North America. Only about 160 of the species can be found statewide, representing an eight-fold increase from the 20 in existence when the wildlife service began a captive breeding program to save them in the early 1980s, the Times reported.
Mickols confirmed to the Times that by Wednesday morning the condors that had been on her house had relocated to a tree on her property.