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Normally, condors breed once every two years, producing only one egg. If the egg is lost, they might be able to lay
another. The male and female take turns incubating the egg and, once it hatches, feeding the offspring until it learns
to find its own food, which could take a year. Playful and inquisitive, condors roost in large groups and communicate
with a combination of hisses, growls, and grunts as well as a system of body language.
Instead of flapping their wings, which can span more than nine feet from tip to tip, condors soar on wind currents.
Like vultures, which are in the same family, they are scavengers, but instead of relying on their sense of smell they
watch for other scavengers feeding on carrion.
Adult California condors are almost entirely black. Except for a few feathers, their heads and necks are mostly bare
and include shades of pink, red, orange, yellow, and light blue, becoming more intensely pink when they're excited.
It's impossible to distinguish the males from the females just by looking at them.
The condor has been on the wane since the end of the last ice age, judging from the fossil record.
During the Pleistocene it was found from the Pacific Northwest south into Mexico and east to Florida, and at least
one set of fossils has turned up in western New York, suggesting it roamed even farther than once believed. By the
arrival of Europeans, condors were found along the Pacific from Baja to the Columbia River, feeding on the carrion of
elk, bighorns, pronghorns, deer, and marine mammals washed up on the shore. A Spanish priest in Baja California
was the first westerner to record sighting the species, in 1602; the first scientific specimen was collected in Monterey
in 1792. By about 1900, the condor population plummeted and was limited to southern California, due to many
factors including loss of habitat, a low reproductive rate, poisoning, and shooting.
The condor was acknowledged to be a rare and declining species for decades, and by 1965 the population stood at
about sixty - a figure that continued to drop steadily, despite tightened protection and intense study. By 1981, there
were fewer than 25 condors, and the following year a long-debated captive breeding program was finally instituted,
using birds and eggs removed from the wild. This policy change came just in time, because the remaining wild birds
vanished at a shocking rate, succumbing to lead poisoning and other environmental contaminants. Between 1984
and 1985, four of the remaining breeding pairs disappeared, and only nine wild birds survived. The decision was
made to bring the survivors into captivity, and the last free-flying condor, a male designated AC-9, was captured in
1987.
Condor chicks proved surprisingly easy to breed in captivity, and in 1988 the first chick conceived in a zoo was born.
The flock began to grow at a rapid pace, increasing from 27 in 1987 to 88 in 1994.
In 1992, eight young California condors were released into their old range, with more to follow in later years.
Today, designated refuges and captive breeding programs help protect and restore the species.
Since 1996, Ventana Wildlife Society has been responsible for reintroducing California condors to the central coast
region of California. Ventana Wildlife Society is the only private, non-profit organization in California responsible for
restoring the California condor to the wild.
another. The male and female take turns incubating the egg and, once it hatches, feeding the offspring until it learns
to find its own food, which could take a year. Playful and inquisitive, condors roost in large groups and communicate
with a combination of hisses, growls, and grunts as well as a system of body language.
Instead of flapping their wings, which can span more than nine feet from tip to tip, condors soar on wind currents.
Like vultures, which are in the same family, they are scavengers, but instead of relying on their sense of smell they
watch for other scavengers feeding on carrion.
Adult California condors are almost entirely black. Except for a few feathers, their heads and necks are mostly bare
and include shades of pink, red, orange, yellow, and light blue, becoming more intensely pink when they're excited.
It's impossible to distinguish the males from the females just by looking at them.
The condor has been on the wane since the end of the last ice age, judging from the fossil record.
During the Pleistocene it was found from the Pacific Northwest south into Mexico and east to Florida, and at least
one set of fossils has turned up in western New York, suggesting it roamed even farther than once believed. By the
arrival of Europeans, condors were found along the Pacific from Baja to the Columbia River, feeding on the carrion of
elk, bighorns, pronghorns, deer, and marine mammals washed up on the shore. A Spanish priest in Baja California
was the first westerner to record sighting the species, in 1602; the first scientific specimen was collected in Monterey
in 1792. By about 1900, the condor population plummeted and was limited to southern California, due to many
factors including loss of habitat, a low reproductive rate, poisoning, and shooting.
The condor was acknowledged to be a rare and declining species for decades, and by 1965 the population stood at
about sixty - a figure that continued to drop steadily, despite tightened protection and intense study. By 1981, there
were fewer than 25 condors, and the following year a long-debated captive breeding program was finally instituted,
using birds and eggs removed from the wild. This policy change came just in time, because the remaining wild birds
vanished at a shocking rate, succumbing to lead poisoning and other environmental contaminants. Between 1984
and 1985, four of the remaining breeding pairs disappeared, and only nine wild birds survived. The decision was
made to bring the survivors into captivity, and the last free-flying condor, a male designated AC-9, was captured in
1987.
Condor chicks proved surprisingly easy to breed in captivity, and in 1988 the first chick conceived in a zoo was born.
The flock began to grow at a rapid pace, increasing from 27 in 1987 to 88 in 1994.
In 1992, eight young California condors were released into their old range, with more to follow in later years.
Today, designated refuges and captive breeding programs help protect and restore the species.
Since 1996, Ventana Wildlife Society has been responsible for reintroducing California condors to the central coast
region of California. Ventana Wildlife Society is the only private, non-profit organization in California responsible for
restoring the California condor to the wild.
| Sierra Club Photo |
| CALIFORNIA CONDOR (Gymnogyps californianus) One of our rarest treasures, the California Condor, now exists as an endangered, reintroduced species in the Ventana Wilderness area in Big Sur. Condors, the largest flying birds in North America, are monogamous and pair for life. How many California condors once lived is not known. In 1982, there were fewer than 25 left in the wild. Today, their numbers have increased to approximately 200. Loss of habitat, shootings, pesticide residue, lead poisoning, and collisions with power lines pose the biggest threat to their continued survival. California condors are capable of reaching up to 60 years of age in the wild. |
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Printable Identification Guide.
Condor watching
locations:
Andrew Molera State Park, Big Sur, CA
Bottcher's Gap, Big Sur, CA
Jack's Peak, Monterey, CA
Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park, Big Sur, CA
Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park at the Big Sur
Lodge
locations:
Andrew Molera State Park, Big Sur, CA
Bottcher's Gap, Big Sur, CA
Jack's Peak, Monterey, CA
Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park, Big Sur, CA
Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park at the Big Sur
Lodge
2007 was a year of great
accomplishment in Condor
Recovery. For the first time in 100
years, two California Condor chicks
were raised from wild nests in
Central California.
The greatest threat to wild condors,
lead ammunition, was banned in
their range for certain types of
hunting.
More research was done to find
ways to protect condors from
collisions with powerlines and wind
turbines.
accomplishment in Condor
Recovery. For the first time in 100
years, two California Condor chicks
were raised from wild nests in
Central California.
The greatest threat to wild condors,
lead ammunition, was banned in
their range for certain types of
hunting.
More research was done to find
ways to protect condors from
collisions with powerlines and wind
turbines.
New Egg for Condors
The nesting pair of condors that hatched the first condor chick in the wild in
California in a century has laid another egg.
Joe Burnett, senior wildlife biologist for the Ventana Wildlife Society's Condor
Recovery Program, reported that the nesting pair was showing "telltale signs
that (the mother) was tending to an egg in her cliffside nest cave" on
Valentine's Day. Burnett said this was the second try for the pair, who produced
a condor the society named Centennia. Centennia hatched early last year, but
was attacked by a golden eagle while flying free in Big Sur on Dec. 4.
The nesting pair of condors that hatched the first condor chick in the wild in
California in a century has laid another egg.
Joe Burnett, senior wildlife biologist for the Ventana Wildlife Society's Condor
Recovery Program, reported that the nesting pair was showing "telltale signs
that (the mother) was tending to an egg in her cliffside nest cave" on
Valentine's Day. Burnett said this was the second try for the pair, who produced
a condor the society named Centennia. Centennia hatched early last year, but
was attacked by a golden eagle while flying free in Big Sur on Dec. 4.
