If the term “endangered” means good, then I just returned from photographing a very good bird–the California Condor (Gymnogyps califerianus). The word endangered when used in conjunction with wildlife has been a hot button issue for many years going back to the snail darter and spotted owl issues. But today endangered can mean a lot in tourism dollars. Take the condor for instance. Thousands of people travel great distances each year just to get a glimpse of this very rare bird.

My American Heritage dictionary defines, endangered as; faced with the danger of extinction. And the California Condor came perilously close to extinction about 20 years ago. In 1982 there were only 22 individual condors alive. Only nine of these were in the wild. The rest were in zoos.

After several of the wild birds had died suddenly of unexplained causes, it was decided to capture the remaining wild birds and start a captive breeding program with the intent to release them back to the wild. Fortunately the condors had no problems breeding in captivity and ten years later (1992) the first of captive bred condors were released back to the wild in the hopes of establishing a stable wild population.

The California Condor is the largest bird in North America. In comparison to the more familiar Bald Eagle, the condor is approximately twice the size and weight. An adult condor stands about 4 to 4.5 feet tall and has a very impressive 9.5-foot wingspan. On average they weight between 16-23 pounds but can weight as much as 30 pounds.

Historically they ranged in a narrow band from British Columbia to Mexico along the mountainous west coast with a few scattered and isolated populations in other southwestern states such as Arizona. It is felt that there was never a large populations of condors and their declined was in conjunction with the passing of the large animals that roamed the earth before humans.

Officially the reason for their decline is listed as “unsustainable mortality rate combined with a naturally low reproduction rate.” In the recent past, most deaths were from shooting, poisoning, lead poisoning and collisions with power lines. Combine that with adults that reproduce only one offspring every other year and you have a bad combination.

Like other large bird species such as the Bald Eagle the condors don’t become sexually mature until they are 6 or 7 years old. No one knows exactly how long a condor can live but it’s presumed they can live at least 40 years and maybe as long at 70. That means the most productive years of an adult condor would be in its twenties and thirties. Presently there are 199 total birds in the world. Eighty-one of these can be found in the wild (36 in Arizona and 45 in California). There are nine more waiting to be release.

The California Condor was first placed on the equivalent of the federal endangered species list in 1967-six years before the official passage of the federal endangered species act in 1973. The goal of today’s efforts is to establish two separate populations with 150 birds each (total 300).

Today you might see one of these wonderful birds by visiting the south rim of the Grand Canyon in Arizona as I did. And with some luck they might even fly over your head giving you a view of their impressive size.

Until next time…