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As a plane scratched a white line across the blue sky above, we waited for the helicopter to arrive, transporting the egg from Salinas. I stood with Flanngan, her mother, Cindy Meeker, and VWS biologist Mike Tyner, on a rise across from the cliff face containing the condor nest.

At 12:40pm, just over seven hours after the chick had left Los Angeles, the helicopter landed on the backcountry precipice above the cave. Looking through a scope, Flannagan saw Burnett and Brandt exit the aircraft with the egg. Burnett and Flannagan communicated via handheld radios.

“Copy on two,” Burnett said. “I can hear a peregrine falcon up here. Same routine as last time.”

While Burnett and Brandt hiked towards the edge and got their climbing gear ready, Flannagan noticed that the female condor was outside the cave, apparently trying to figure out where the sound of the helicopter came from. Tyner was getting a signal from the male bird on the radio tracking equipment. The biologists surmised that he had been out getting food and decided to return to the area to investigate the noise.

While waiting for Brandt to begin his descent, Flannagan described a couple of things that could go wrong with this operation. The female condor could try to scare Brandt away while he was rappelling down the precarious cliff face. She said the egg could break on the journey down.  

Burnett later said that these concerns were unfounded. The only thing he could see going wrong with the operation would occur if the rope broke, which would be unfortunate for both Brandt and the egg.

“She’s outside the nest,” Flannagan radioed to Burnett. “She’s getting pissed.”

As Brandt continued to rappel down with the egg inside a portable incubator tucked in his backpack, the female took off and swooped over a dark gulley to the left of the cliff. Brandt got to the ledge and started to squeeze into the narrow fissure. When the female returned to observe, her behavior was less aggravated.

“She’s preening,” Flannagan said to Tyner. “See that Mike, she’s chill.”

From inside the cavern, Brandt radioed his progress to Burnett and Flannagan. “This egg is definitely ready to go,” he said. “There’s a dime-sized hole in it and I can see the chick.”

“That’s good news,” Burnett said.

As Brandt started to climb back up the rock, looking like a spider from where we stood, Flannagan quipped: “I have to smoke a cigar after this, right?”