Archaeological evidence indicates that condors have been revered by western Native Americans for thousands of years and played a major role in their legends and rituals. Condors were considered sacred and capable of providing communication with the supernatural world as well as supernatural powers.
In more recent times, the California condor has become the subject of an intense and sometimes controversial effort to save the species from extinction. Faced with rapidly declining numbers, scientists began collecting wild-laid eggs and capturing free-flying birds to breed them in captivity with the goal of eventually restoring the condor to its rightful place in the California skies.
California condors are the largest birds in North America. They may weigh up to 25 pounds and have wingspans of 9 1/2 feet. California condors have bare heads and necks, dull gray-black feathers, and blunt claws. They have a triangle-shaped patch of white, visible only when airborne, that adorns the underside of their wings.
California condors can soar on warm thermal updrafts for hours, reaching speeds of more than 55 miles per hour and altitudes of 15,000 feet.
Normally, California condors do not become sexually mature until the age of 6 and may not start breeding until age 7 or 8. They nest in caves or clefts on cliffs that usually have nearby trees for roosting and a clear approach for easy take-offs and landings. Typically, an adult pair lays one egg every other year, with the fledgling being dependent upon its parents through the next breeding season.
Like all vultures, condors are carrion-eaters. They prefer large dead animals like deer, cattle, and sheep, but will also eat rodents and more rarely, fish. If a meal has been particularly big, they may have to spend hours on the ground or a low branch before they can take off again. Condors are fastidious birds -- after eating, they clean their heads and necks by rubbing them on grass, rocks, or tree branches. Condors also bathe frequently and spend hours preening and drying their feathers.
Condors were probably never very numerous in North America. The species once ranged along the entire Pacific Coast from British Columbia to Baja California. Fossils have been found as far east as Texas, Florida, and New York. More recently, however, they were confined to a horseshoe-shaped area north of Los Angeles.
For years, no one knew precisely how many California condors existed, although they have been considered to be a declining species since the 1890s. One estimate put their number at 100 in the early 1940s. Another indicated there were 50 to 60 in the early 1960s. By the late 1970s, the estimate had dropped to 25 to 30 birds.
Nor, despite years of study, can scientists pinpoint the reason for the bird's decline. Some factors include illegal collection of condors and their eggs, poisoning from substances put out by ranchers to eradicate livestock predators, poisoning from ingesting lead fragments from bullets embedded in animal carcasses the condors feed on, and collisions with structures such as power lines. In addition, the roads, cities, housing tracts, and weekend mountain retreats of modern civilization have replaced much of the open country condors need to find food. Their slow rate of reproduction and years spent reaching breeding maturity undoubtedly make the condor population as a whole more vulnerable to these threats.
Recognizing the California condor's perilous state, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service listed the bird as an endangered species in 1967 (under a law that preceded the Endangered Species Act of 1973), meaning it was considered in danger of extinction throughout all or a significant portion of its range. The Fish and Wildlife Service, the California Department of Fish and Game, and the National Audubon Society, among other government and private groups, began a joint effort in 1979 to study and preserve the bird.
As part of this effort, biologists captured birds, weighed and measured them, and fitted some with tags and radio transmitters so they could be monitored and identified after being released. Biologists learned about the condors' feeding, mating, and chick-rearing habits, as well as their habitat needs. They also confirmed that California condor pairs that lost an egg would lay a second or even a third one.
To increase the condors' egg production, the biologists began removing eggs laid in the wild in 1983. The eggs were taken to either the San Diego Wild Animal Park or the Los Angeles Zoo for hatching. The first California condor hatched in captivity in 1983. Nicknamed "Sisquoc," this condor and subsequent chicks hatched from wild-laid eggs were raised in boxes that simulated the caves their parents used. Zookeepers kept human contact to a minimum by feeding the chicks with hand puppets made to look like adult condors.
Meanwhile, researchers began capturing young condors in order to start breeding them as quickly as possible before the wild population declined further. Bringing immature, non- breeding birds into captivity would speed up the time it would take to create a viable, breeding population. The Andean condor, a closely related species that inhabits areas in South America, had bred successfully in captivity and some captive-born birds have been released in the wild, giving biologists good reason to be optimistic about similar success for the California condor.
Until 1985, biologists planned to leave at least some condors in the wild. It was believed the free-flying condors would provide role models to captive-hatched birds that could hopefully be restored to the wild in the 1990s.
Then, disaster struck. Members within four of the five remaining breeding pairs disappeared over the winter of 1984-85, and the wild population was reduced from 15 to 9 birds. With the number of wild condors continuing to plummet in 1986, the biologists decided to capture all remaining wild California condors and bring them into the captive breeding program. The last remaining wild California condor was trapped in 1987. Two of these birds successfully mated and produced the first captive- bred condor chick the following year.
In the fall of 1988, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service began a 3-year reintroduction experiment using Andean condors as stand-ins for their endangered cousins.
Between December 1988 and January 1989, 13 female Andean condors were released, equipped with radio transmitters for monitoring by biologists. Only females were released to prevent reproduction in the wild -- accidentally introducing a new species into a new habitat. These birds helped scientists perfect release techniques and to identify environmental threats before California condors were reintroduced. One of the Andean condors died, from a collision with a power line, and the rest were later recaptured and returned to their native habitat in South America.
In 1991, two California condors were reintroduced into the Los Padres National Forest's Sespe Condor Sanctuary in California, along with two Andean condors. Biological studies indicated that California condors develop better in social groups. And because there were only two California condors ready for release, biologists made up the difference with the Andean relatives. Subsequently, when six more California condors became ready for release later that year, the two Andean condors were recaptured and eventually returned to South America.
To date, 13 California condors have been reintroduced to the wild, but mortality has been high. Four have died due to collisions with power lines and one died from poisoning by ethylene glycol, a substance commonly found in antifreeze. Another five were taken back to breeding facilities because biologists considered some of their behavior, such as perching on power lines, to be a risk. Biologists tried to transfer some of the condors to more remote areas, but the birds flew back to their original release area.
By nature, condors are exceptionally curious and show no fear of humans. And while birds born and raised in the wild could learn about the hazards of their environment from their parents, captive-released birds have no such role models.
Today, there are 87 condors -- 3 birds in the wild and 84 in breeding facilities. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service plans to continue releasing California condors. The search for appropriate habitat in remote areas for such releases continues, and additional breeding facilities have been established as well. In addition to the San Diego Wild Animal Park and the Los Angeles Zoo, California condors are also kept at the World Center for Birds of Prey in Boise, Idaho.
While the outlook for the California condor is more promising than 5 years ago, there is more work ahead. Captive breeding is essential to the survival of critically endangered species like the California condor; in fact, it may be the last hope of saving the condor.