California Condor

California Condor

About the photographs

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1. Cool Facts
2. Description
3. Similar Species
4. Sound
5. Range
6. Habitat
7. Food
8. Behavior
9. Reproduction
10. Conservation Status
11. Other Names

The largest flying bird in North America, the California Condor is one of the most endangered birds in the world. Rarely flapping, except during takeoff and landing, it is a superb glider that covers enormous distances each day.

Cool Facts

• The California Condor normally dominates other scavengers and usually does not hesitate to take a carcass away from smaller species. The exception is when a Golden Eagle is present. Although the condor weighs about twice as much as an eagle, the superior talons of the eagle command respect.
• The California Condor lays only one egg in a brood. The young is dependent upon the parents for more than one year, and consequently condor pairs usually breed only in every other year.

• Young condors do not breed until they are six to eight years old, about the time they acquire full adult coloration.

Description

• Size: 117-134 cm (46-53 in)
• Wingspan: 277 cm (109 in)
• Weight: 7000-9900 g (247.1-349.47 ounces)

• Very large soaring bird.
• Long, broad wings.
• White along front edge of wings.
• Short, broad tail.
• Bare orange head.

• White bar visible on top of wing.
• Bare head yellowish to reddish orange.
• Ruff of feathers around neck.
• Legs and feet gray.
• Eyes brownish red.
• Bill ivory-colored and enclosed by fleshy tissue for most of its length.
•  May show bare patch of reddish skin on chest.

Sex Differences

Sexes look alike, male slightly larger.

Immature

Immature similar to adult, but has dark head and grayish instead of white patches in wings.

Similar Species

• Golden Eagle smaller, and has white in ends of wings, not in the linings.
• Immature Bald Eagle can have similar markings, but is smaller and will have some white in the tail.
• Turkey Vulture flies with wings held up in a V.

Sound

Hisses and snorts; usually silent.

Range

Summer Range

Exterminated in the wild. Introduced birds resident in southern California and Grand Canyon region of Arizona; not yet self-sustaining.

Habitat

Nesting habitats have ranged from scrubby chaparral to forested montane regions subject to winter snowfalls. Most foraging documented in relatively open grassland regions.

Food

Carrion of large mammals.

Behavior

Foraging

Soars over large distances and detects carrion by sight.

Reproduction

Nest Type

Pile of loose debris on cliff ledge.

Egg Description

Pale blue-green bleaching to white.

Clutch Size

Condition at Hatching

Helpless, covered in white down with eyes open.

Conservation Status

Severely endangered. All nine remaining wild condors were captured in 1987. A captive breeding program has been successful in producing young, and condors have been reintroduced into California and Arizona. Wild condors are breeding, but have not yet been successful in producing young surviving to breeding age. Details on the captive breeding and reintroduction project can be found at the Peregrine Fund web site and at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service web site.

Other Names

Condor de Californie (French)
Condor californiano, Buitre (Spanish)

Sources used to construct this page:

Snyder, N. F. R., and N. J. Schmitt. 2002. California Condor (Gymnogyps californianus). In The Birds of North America, No. 610 (A. Poole and F. Gill, eds.). The Birds of North America, Inc., Philadelphia, PA.