In California, the tags show the last two numbers of their three- or four-digit identification number and vary in color. We watched one of them circle down to where the nest was,' he recalled.Ĭondors can be identified by tags placed on their wings by biologists. It was condors 317 and 318 swapping nesting and scavenging duties. “During a hike at Pinnacles National Park, we got to the other side of the Steep and Narrow, and two birds flew over us. Long-time volunteer with the Ventana Wildlife Society, Tim Huntington, saw first-hand the attentive parenting behavior of 317 and 318 when 550 was hatched. The pair accepted the new egg as their own, and on March 24, 2010, the pair successfully hatched condor 550. “Doing so would increase the chances of the chick hatching and give researchers an opportunity to better understand the causes of eggshell thinning.” “When biologists at the park noticed that 317 and 318 laid an egg, they talked to partners and decided to carefully remove the egg and replace it with an egg from the San Diego Zoo Wild Animal Park,” explained Alacia Welch, Condor program manager at Pinnacles National Park. It was an exciting but worrisome moment because condor eggs in the wild were experiencing eggshell thinning issues. In 2010, condors 317 and 318 found each other and became the first pair to nest at Pinnacles National Park. Together, we are making a difference in this species’ future and conserving it for generations to come,” said Ashleigh Blackford, California condor program coordinator at the U.S. “The California Condor Recovery Program is a shining example of how a species can be brought back from the brink of extinction through partnerships with states, Tribes, federal partners, non-profit organizations, and even other countries. Today, more than 300 free-flying condors live in the wild.

In the first 10 years of the California Condor Recovery Program, hundreds of condors were hatched and raised at multiple zoos in California, Oregon and Idaho and released into the wild. In 1987, all remaining wild condors were humanely captured and taken into care at the Los Angeles Zoo and the institution now known as San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance to launch a captive breeding program for the species. By 1982, only 23 condors existed in the wild. Fish and Wildlife’s new poster commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Endangered Species Act.Ĭalifornia condors were listed as an endangered species in 1967. The park is home to several endangered California condors, including condor 550, the condor featured in the U.S. Hiking through Pinnacles National Park in central California, you may be lucky enough to see the shadow of a massive wingspan or even catch a glimpse of a California condor soaring through the skies.

Condor flights