California Condor Numbers Growing
    For the first time in more than a century, a California condor chick has hatched inside Pinnacles National Monument, the federal wildlife reserve in California that was once the species’ domain. The young condor chick brings the total number of California condors in the world to 350.
    Biologists and others have been celebrating the birth. After all, this bird–the largest North American land bird–was at the brink of extinction less than 30 years ago. In 1982, only 22 of the birds were left in the world, thanks to habitat loss, poaching, and lead poisoning. Those birds were then placed in a captive breeding program at the San Diego Wild Animal Park and the Los Angeles Zoo.Â
    By 1991, the condors’ numbers had increased enough that biologists could begin reintroducing the birds into the wild, to their native California and the Southwest. Now, about 180 of the 350 California condors live free in the Grand Canyon area, Zion National Park in Utah, and in the coastal mountains of California and northern Baja California. Â
    The newest condor chick is being raised by a female who was released into the wild in 2004 at Pinnacles and by a male released that same year on the California coast. The couple had produced an egg that proved not viable, so biologists replaced the egg in the bird’s nest with a fertile condor egg.  Â
    The California condor is an impressive bird. It is a black vulture with a largely bald head. The skin color of the bird’s head ranges from yellowish to bright red, depending on the bird’s mood! The wingspan of the California condor is wider than that of any North American bird, and the condor is one of the longest-living birds in the world. A California condor can live for up to 50 years. A scavenger, the condor eats large amounts of carrion.
     I am thankful to the scientists and others who worked with care and wisdom over the years to prevent the complete extinction that would have taken place without their committed efforts.–April Moore
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photo by Michael Quinn
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April 27th, 2010 at 8:44 pm
I had the experience of seeing these magnificent birds at the Grand Canyon about 8 years ago. They were perched along the walls of the South Rim, their numbered (tagged) wings visible through my binoculars. I was not fortunate enough to see them fly, but me friends did. A park ranger gave a very interesting talk about the condors, and to illustrate the size, he asked two children to come forward, each taking one side of a black felt silhouette of the bird, stretching it to its full 12-foot wingspan.
I am especially drawn to the music of the Andes. My favorite song, the one that most stirs my soul, is “The Flight of the Condor.” It is a deeply patriotic song, as this magnificent bird is symbolic of the struggles of indigenous people for their right to exist, their freedom.