California condor update: Good news/bad news.

For Ventana Wildlife Society, success is measured in gray, fuzzy babies.

The nonprofit, which leads the California condor recovery program in Big Sur, is tracking eight nesting pairs of free-flying condors in Central California this year. In Southern California, VWS Executive Director Kelly Sorenson says, there are 12 nesting pairs. 

That could mean up to 20 condor babies born in the wild this year. But given the many threats to condor chicks in the wild, Sorenson says VWS will be happy if half of them grow old enough to strike out on their own. "I don't want to count our chicks before they fledge," he says.

VWS staff also plan to release seven condors from captivity near San Luis Obispo, where they hope the birds will feast on dead elephant seals along the coast—a food source sure to be free of lead, the number-one threat to wild condors.

Lead bullets are such menaces to condors, the state passed a law banning their use throughout condors' range. A second law later expanded the ban to all of California, but it won't be implemented until 2019.

That brings us to the bad news. VWS had tried to convince the California Fish and Game Commission to move that deadline forward a few years, even submitting a petition with about 1,900 signatures to that effect. But on April 9, the commission declined.

Sorenson says the outcome was a disappointment, but not a surprise. Hunting and firearm interests have long argued that ammunition manufacturers need years to ramp up the supply of copper rifle bullets, the leading alternative to lead.

But he says it's a bit of a circular argument. "Until we see a greater demand [for copper bullets], we're really not going to find a solution for this problem," he says. "There's money to be made here." 

In the meantime, VWS is working to convince more hunters to embrace copper ammo on their own terms. For the fourth consecutive year, VWS is giving away boxes of copper bullets. This year, they have more to give, and they're shipping about 25 boxes out to their raffle winners each month. (Enter by filling out the form here.)

"Some months, everybody gets it because we have that much to give," Sorenson says.

His message for hunters unsure about the switch from lead to copper: "Let us buy you that first box. We think you're going to be really pleased. They do shoot a little different, but these are really accurate, high-performing bullets."