The flight of the condor

By Deborah Rawson12:00AM / Thursday, August 26, 2004Print Story | Email Story

Imagine a precocious teenager, set in his ways with specific, favorite belongings, a unique birthmark and his favorite meal being eggs and salmon for Sunday brunch. He sits on the roof of the family minivan and steps to the beat of a drummer you couldnâ€™t possibly begin to understand. Now imagine that same teenagerâ€™s diet consisting of an entire frozen chicken a day, meat, fish, eggs, road-kill turkey or deer â€” and on the rare occasion of a natural disaster at a nearby pheasant farm, pheasant under grass as a special treat. Such is the case for a 17-year old Andean condor that resides in a secret location in the Hudson Valley region. Veedor the condor stands 3 feet tall, weighs 40 pounds and has a wingspan of 9 1/2 feet. A fluffy, white down collar adorns its otherwise bald neck and can be used as a weather barometer â€” how high up on its neck it wears the collar depends on how cold it is. Veedorâ€™s feathers are tuxedo black, complete with white pinstripes, and the condor has a very special birthmark, one single white feather on its right shoulder. Veedorâ€™s favorite toy is a cardboard box, with which he loves to play his favorite game, tug-of-war. Although native to South America, this incomparable bird of prey lives in Connecticut with trainer and companion John McNeely. McNeely, who graduated with honors from Ohio State Universityâ€™s School of Natural Resources and has managed wildlife preserves in Ohio, Maryland, New York and Virginia, took on a life-altering challenge in the summer of 1988, when he adopted the enormous bird for rehabilitation and education. He has managed a wildlife preserve in Connecticut for the past 25 years. McNeely had the idea of training the bird for â€œfree-flightâ€ and taking it on educational ventures throughout the region. He said he wanted to inform people of the birdâ€™s existence on the endangered species list, along with other South American and California condors. It is estimated that only about 1,000 Andean condors remain free and flying in the mountains of South America, with only 27 of the California condors known to be in existence anywhere on Earth. The Andean condor is the national bird of five different countries. Veedor was born at a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Center for Captive-breeding Endangered Species near Washington, D.C. The birdâ€™s grandparents had been captured in South America in an effort to learn more about the species and help bring back its declining population. A condorâ€™s lifespan is 70 to 80 years, so McNeelyâ€™s commitment truly had to be for life. McNeely, a naturalist and ornithologist, adopted the bird when Veedor was a scruffy looking 1-year-old living in a pen at the Patuxent Wildlife Research Center â€œcondorminiumâ€ in Laurel, Md. â€œWhen I first saw him, he was not nearly as heavy, weighing about 20 pounds, and not as handsome as heâ€™s become,â€ McNeely recalled. â€œHis coat was a muddled, fuzzy gray-brown. His black coat and white neck ruff didnâ€™t develop until about age 4. During the period that his coat color deepened to black, white feathers started showing up, making him look as if heâ€™d accidentally walked across a freshly painted floor when his wings were tight against his sides. Now when he opens his wings, the white spreads up on the secondary feathers.â€ Due to federal budget cuts and staff reduction at the research center in 1988, in addition to a flurry of phone calls and special permission from the government, everything fell into place for the bird to go live with McNeely. At the time,Veedor was only known as a number, but when McNeely began his 400-mile trek through New England to pick up the bird, he already had a name in mind. â€œI had read lots of Inca history and research before I left for Maryland,â€ he said. â€œI knew I would name the bird Veedor, which means â€˜overseerâ€™ in Spanish.â€ Because Veedor had accidentally been imprinted on humans at an early age, meaning it came to know humans as providers after it was separated from its parents at 9 months old, and because it was raised out of his natural environment, it will forever depend on a keeper for survival. Although McNeely doesnâ€™t believe in caging birds, he said he realized for the birdâ€™s safety he would need to design and construct a suitable permanent residence for him. Friends of McNeelyâ€™s got together for a â€œcage-raisingâ€ party, and a 14-foot-wide, 26-foot-long, 13-foot-high housing enclosure was erected for the new arrival. Like movie stars and actors with fans who eagerly await the summer months to see their thespian heroes on local theater festival stages, Veedor has a following of admirers here in the Berkshires as well. â€œA lot of people know Veedor, and remember him from when he was here 14 years ago for our fall festival,â€ said Jan Cullen, property manger for Mass Audubonâ€™s Berkshire Sanctuaries. Veedor has since appeared occasionally at other area locales. The bird will return to the Pleasant Valley Wildlife Sanctuary in Lenox on Sept. 4, as part of the sanctuaryâ€™s 75th anniversary celebration. A slide presentation will begin the program at 1 p.m. before visitors adjourn to the outdoors to watch Veedor take flight. A second slide presentation will follow. Contrary to legend, condors donâ€™t fly off with babies or farm animals. In fact, they physically cannot. Although their talons are extremely large, unlike owls and hawks, they are not designed to grasp live prey. Condors are known to be quite affectionate and generally well tempered. Veedor is no exception and brings personality to the table as well. â€œHe is such a delight,â€ Cullen said. â€œHe was very mischievous and fun when he was here before.â€ According to McNeely, Veedor has disabled the van on more than one occasion when he crawled underneath and disconnected some important wiring. Veedor and its handlers have logged in over 200,000 miles traveling by air-conditioned van and are desperately in need of funds for a new vehicle in which to travel, McNeely said. The van is equipped with a â€œColossal Dog Crate,â€ (the largest dog crate available) in which Veedor rides in safety to all his public appearances. The oversized crate is designed to comfortably fit a St. Bernard. Veedor works with four other devoted handlers, including Scott Sinclair and Shannon Kearney, both of Connecticut, and Martha Boll and Robin Brace. All said they fell in love with the big bird upon their first meetings and were thrilled at the rare opportunity to work a condor, especially in this part of the country. â€œWe are the only people this side of Arizona watching a condor flying freely through the sky,â€ said McNeely during one of Veedorâ€™s recent daily flying exercises. Veedor is the only free-flying trained condor in the entire world. Other condors and raptors may be seen in zoos or other rehabilitation programs, but Veedor holds that one special distinction. Although Veedor was reintroduced to its parents in 1988, according to McNeely, the bird was distracted and showed no signs of recognition. Veedor was also introduced to a female condor in 1995 and 1997 but showed no interest. Donations on behalf of Veedor can be made to The Hudson Valley Raptor Center, c/o John McNeely for Veedor, 89 Westwoods Road #2, Sharon, CT 06069. For ticket information to see Veedor at Pleasant Valley, call 637-0320, or visit www.massaudubon.org.

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Dalton Announces New Supplier for Energy Program

10:46AM / Thursday, November 27, 2025

DALTON, Mass. – The Town of Dalton has signed a thirty-four month contract with a new supplier, First Point Power.

Beginning with the January 2026 meter reads, the Dalton Community Choice Power Supply Program will have a new rate of $0.13042 per kWh. The Program will also continue to offer an optional 100 percent green product, which is derived from National Wind Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs), at a rate of $0.13142 per kWh.

For Dalton residents and businesses who are enrolled in the Town's Program, the current rate of $0.13849 per kWh will expire with the January 2026 meter reads and the new rate of $0.13042 per kWh will take effect. This represents a decrease of $5 per month on the supply side of the bill given average usage of 600 kWh. Additionally, this new rate is 3 percent lower than Eversource's Residential Basic Service rate of $0.13493 per kWh. Residents can expect to see an

average savings of $3 per month for the month of January 2026. Eversource's Basic Service rates

will change on Feb. 1, 2026.

Dalton launched its electricity program in January 2015 in an effort to develop an energy program that would be stable and affordable. From inception through June 2025, the Program has saved residents and small businesses over $1.7 million in electricity costs as compared to Eversource Basic Service.

It is important to note that no action is required by current participants. This change will be seen on the February 2026 bills. All accounts currently enrolled in the Program will remain with their current product offering and see the new rate and First Point Power printed under the "Supplier Services" section of their monthly bill.

The Dalton Community Choice Power Supply Program has no fees or charges. However, anyone switching from a contract with a third-party supplier may be subject to penalties or early termination fees charged by that supplier. Ratepayers should verify terms before switching.

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