California Condors

 

A young California condor in the canyon

US Fish & Wildlife Service

Jump to the latest Notes from the Field Condor Update
Download Condor Tag Chart (04/26/2013)

"Condors of the Canyon" Listen to audiocast
Daily condor Ranger Talk times on South and North Rims

Regarded as one of the rarest birds in the world, the California condor (Gymnogyps californianus) is the largest land bird in North America with a wingspan up to 9 1/2 feet and weighing up to 23 pounds. Adults are primarily black except for triangle-shaped patches of bright white underneath their wings. These patches are visible when condors are flying overhead and offer a key identification characteristic.

Males and females are identical in size and plumage. The bare heads of condors are grayish-black as juveniles and turn a dull orange-pink as adults. Condors are members of the New World vulture family and are opportunistic scavengers, feeding exclusively on dead animals such as deer, cattle, rabbits, and large rodents.

 

Using thermal updrafts, condors can soar and glide at up to 50 miles per hour and travel 100 miles or more per day searching for food while expending little energy.

When not foraging for food, condors spend most of their time perched at a roost. Cliffs, tall conifers, and snags serve as roost sites in Grand Canyon National Park.

 

A mature California condor #33

NPS photo by Michael Quinn

Condors become sexually mature at about six years of age and most mate for life.

Nest sites are often found in caves and rock crevices. Condors do not build nests. Instead, an egg about 5 inches in length and weighing around 10 ounces is deposited on bare ground. Condors typically lay a single egg every other year. The egg hatches after 56 days of incubation and both parents share responsibility for incubation and for feeding the nestling. Young condors leave the nest when they are 5 to 6 months old.

There are currently 73 condors flying free in northern Arizona and southern Utah, including several that were raised in wild nest caves within or near to the Grand Canyon.

 

The rest come from the captive breeding program. Even the wild-raised birds are mostly now wearing numbered tags and transmitters. The numbers allow you to learn more specifics about any bird you get a close look at.

So look out for these magnificent birds soaring on their 9-foot (nearly 3-meter) wingspan over Grand Canyon National Park. During the warmer months they are seen regularly from the South Rim and frequently also from the North Rim. On the South Rim, try scanning the cliffs and Douglas-fir trees below the Bright Angel Lodge late in the afternoon. In this area some condors select overnight roosts from late April through July and to some degree from March through October.

More About the Condor Re-introduction Program

 

"Wings Over The Canyon"
The Park Ranger condor talk is held daily In the SPRING, SUMMER & FALL

What highly endangered bird with a 9-foot (2.7-m) wingspan is often spotted at Grand Canyon? The California condor ! Learn about these majestic birds and their reintroduction in northern Arizona in a talk on the canyon's rim.

South Rim - Spring 2013 (March 1 - May 22, 2013) 3:00 p.m.daily
Lookout Studio in the South Rim Historic District. Parking is limited - ride the shuttle bus.

South Rim - Summer 2013 (May 23 - September 2, 2013) 4:30 p.m.daily
Lookout Studio in the South Rim Historic District. Parking is limited - ride the shuttle bus.

North Rim - 2013 Season begins May 15, 2013 (May 15 - October 15) 4:30 p.m.daily
Grand Canyon Lodge fireplace on back porch.

---

 

• Condors at the Grand Canyon

  
  

  Grand Canyon National Park has become an important refuge for California condors and one of the best places on Earth to see them in the wild. In this podcast we will tell you more about these wonderful birds and how to recognize them when you visit the park. 
  
  

  Credit / Author:

  Marshall & Brown

  Date created:

  2009-04-15

  Download Original File:

  grca-condor-20090415.mp3
  8062 KB

  Audio Transcript

  Marker Marshall
  The California condor is a dramatic and a dramatically endangered bird.  Grand Canyon National Park has become an important refuge for California condors and one of the best places on Earth to see them in the wild.  In this podcast we’ll first tell you more about these wonderful birds and then we’ll talk about when, where and how to recognize them when you visit the park.  I’m Park Ranger Marker Marshall….
  Pat Brown
  And I’m Park Ranger Pat Brown.  And to tell you about the condors, first of all they are the largest soaring bird in North America.  They have a wingspan of nine-and-a-half feet, about three meters. If they were perched they would be about waist high, and they can weigh anywhere from sixteen to twenty-two pounds.  And they have these big wings because they’re scavengers; they eat dead things, and you’re just not going to find dead things everywhere in the landscape, so they find their food by sight.
  Marker
  The California condor is also a dramatically endangered bird.  In 1982, the world total of California condors was just 22 birds; they were balanced on the brink of extinction.  We probably don’t know all the reasons for their decline.  Certainly people have a bad habit of shooting condors, and at times egg collecting has been a big thing too.  Habitat loss certainly played a role; maybe southern California wasn’t the best place for the condor to make its last stand. 
  But the biggest contributor to their decline was probably the same as the biggest challenge to their recovery today, which is lead poisoning.  California condors are carrion feeders; they eat large dead mammals and portions thereof.  Unfortunately, during deer hunting season, some of the carcasses and gut piles they find are likely to have lead fragments in them.  It turns out that when a hunter brings down a deer with a lead bullet, tiny fragments of lead are almost always left behind in the carcass or gut pile.  Condors wind up ingesting some of  those bits of lead along with their carrion.  The result is that most of the condors in Arizona have been treated at least once for high lead levels, and a number of them have become ill or even died of lead poisoning.
  So we’re strongly encouraging hunters, especially in condor country, to switch to alternative forms of ammunition, like copper rifle bullets.  It’s better for wildlife in general and for condors in particular, and it’s probably also safer for people who eat wild game.  For more information on lead vs. copper bullets, check out the video on that topic on the park’s web site.  You’ll find it and all the condor information under Nature and Science, Animals, and then Birds.
  Fortunately, the captive breeding program was begun in 1983 and has been very successful at raising the number of California condors. Most of the condors in the Arizona/Utah area came out of that captive breeding program, where they come from all four of the different captive breeding locations.  There are also a number of young condors in Arizona now who were bred here in the wild in Arizona, in nest caves either in the Grand Canyon or a little bit further north. 
  The program has been very successful, to the point that the world total today is over 300, and over half of today’s condors are back in the wild.  There are over 70 condors in the Arizona/Utah area. 
  The number of condors in the park changes all the time; it depends on the season, the weather, and especially on where the birds have been finding food lately.  These birds are flying long distances every day, so they’re constantly going in and out of Grand Canyon National Park.
  Pat
  Here at the Grand Canyon you have a unique opportunity to see the California condors because the Grand Canyon offers several things that they need.  There are safe, inaccessible nest caves in the Redwall limestone.  There are thermals to ride.  There is a big open sky here which gives them plenty of room to fly around.  And there’s also plenty of food, in the form of large mammals. 
  The Grand Canyon Village itself offers north-facing cliffs for safe and pleasant roosting sites in warm weather, and also a concentration of food, thanks to the natural and unnatural water sources; watered hotel lawns to graze on; and the Bright Angel Trail as a natural route in and out of the Canyon.  So the food that is available here—they like the big to medium-sized animals, like the mule deer, elk, and bighorn sheep.

 

Watch the Lead Vs. Copper Bullet Video

In this video, Pinnacles N.M. Wildlife Biologist, Jim Petterson, and a group of other hunters compare the performance of lead and non-lead bullets.

He also discusses the potential impacts of lead bullet fragmentation on wildlife and humans. Watch the Video here...

 

---

April 26, 2013 - NOTES FROM THE FIELD, Condor Update

Hello Condor enthusiasts,

Here you may download an updated condor tag chart & tables. Condor Chart 04-26-2013 (238kb PDF)

In addition to this, I do have 4 confirmed moralities to report:

133, female, Tag 33, hatched in 1996, released in 1996; cause of death still being determined

210, female, Tag 10, hatched in 1999, released in 2000; cause of death still being determined

352, female, Tag-52, hatched in 2004, released in 2005: died of unknown causes due to body being unrecoverable

484, female, Tag 84, hatched in 2008, released in 2010; died of unknown causes

I previously reported the death of female 343 and necropsy results indicated she died of lead poisoning. Also female condor 393, who was hatched in 2005 and released in 2009, is suspected to be dead since her transmitter signal was heard in mortality mode, but her body has not been recovered.

This winter has obviously been bad in regards to condor deaths. A total of 7 condors deaths have been confirmed since early December, including 3 breeding females (133, 210, and 343).

The Peregrine Fund was very busy through the winter, having captured and tested the blood-lead levels for 72 condor of AZ/UT condor population. This year's trapping results are showing a very high level of lead poisoning. 28 condors were treated for lead poisoning this winter which is up from the previous lead exposure season.

On a more positive note, there is 1 confirmed wild nest and 5 suspected wild nests in the AZ/UT population. Please refer to the condor chart for information on breeding pairs and estimated egg lay dates and locations. Grand Canyon biologists and volunteers have been busy monitoring the activity of 2 nest caves that can be viewed from the South Rim. The nest cave of 234/280 can be viewed from Hopi Point. The exact nest cave of 122/316 is still being determined, but biologists have narrowed down the location to a specific wall off the Tower of Ra formation. This nesting pair a bit harder to monitor since we have to drive west of Hermits Rest and then hike to the rim. With any luck we'll be monitoring the behaviors of proud parents soon!

Current population numbers from the US Fish & Wildlife Service,
as of March 31, 2013

World Total: 404

Wild Population: 234

o California Population: 132

o Baja California, Mexico Population: 29

o Arizona/Utah Population: 73

Captive Population (including birds temporarily in captivity): 170

---

Janice Stroud-Settles, Wildlife Biologist
Division of Science and Resource Management
Grand Canyon National Park

 

---

Visit the Condor Update Archive for past updates.

 

---

Related Information

California Condors

Condor Re-introduction Program

Lead Vs. Copper Bullet Study

Bird List for Grand Canyon National Park (154kb PDF File)

 

Partner Agencies Links:

Peregrine Fund

Peregrine Fund Condor Cliffs on Facebook

Arizona Game and Fish Department

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Kaibab National Forest

Bureau of Land Management

Utah Department of Natural Resources

San Diego Zoo

The Los Angeles Zoo

The Oregon Zoo

Other Cooperating Parnters:

Hualapai Tribe
The Navajo Nation
The Phoenix Zoo
Liberty Wildlife