Giant Vultures Take Flight

This week two California condors took flight in Redwood National Park, marking the first time the great birds have been here since 1892. The two birds, bred in captivity, were released under a tribal project to restore the giant vultures to their historic habitat.

“That was just as exciting as I thought it was going to be,” Yurok Tribe wildlife department director Tiana Williams-Claussen told Jefferson Public Radio. “Those guys just took right off.”
The California condor (Gymnogyps californianus), with a wingspan of nearly 10 feet, is the largest bird native to North America. A critically endangered species, the condor once flourished over the Pacific Northwest but nearly went extinct in the 1970s due to pesticides, poaching, habitat loss, and lead poisoning (from eating animals shot by hunters and left to rot). There are currently about 500 condors living in the wild and in captivity.

Other small condor populations are finding purchase in other parts of the state, but this week’s introduction is as far north as they’ve reached since repopulation efforts began. The Yurok Tribe is working with federal and local fish and wildlife agencies in the restoration project.
Two more condors will be released later this year. Williams-Claussen says the plan is to release four to six condors every year for the next twenty years. The California condor can live to be 60 and will fly long distances as it seeks carrion, so it is hoped their range will extend into several western states.

Photo credit: Yurok Tribe