The Endangered California Condor

In the United State, the largest bird is the California Condor, Gymnogyps californianus. It lives in very limited habitat in the state of California. Due to a loss of habitat, it is restricted to the mountains near the coast in southern California and is federally listed as endangered, at risk for extinction. Condors are related to new world vultures rather than old world vulture. They're scavengers, eating only carrion or dead animals. The California Condor has a wing span over nine feet and can weigh up to 31 pounds. When standing erect, they can be almost five feet tall.

It takes a California Condor about six years before it reaches sexual maturity, but at about four years of age, it begins to change. The head will start to change colors, ending in a display of yellow, pink and orange. The courtship ritual is done by the male. He will stretch out his wings and crane his neck up, trying to look bigger and more impressive. If a female decides his display is worthy, she'll allow him to approach and then they will fly around together.

There is sexual dimorphism between the male and female. The female is smaller than the male. Both condors are solid black and the males have white patches on the underneath of their wings. As a natural adaptation, condors have developed without many feathers on their heads or necks so that they can clean themselves easily after feeding on a carcass. The skin on the head can change colors depending on the state of the bird. Some condors can have a relatively pale or white skin color, while others that are excited or upset might change to a reddish tone.

With their delayed sexual maturity, it's understandable that they have a long life span. California Condors have been know to live over 50 years. They lay only one egg every two years or so and the egg takes about two months to hatch. The young will be able to fly in about six months, but they won't actually leave the nest for almost two years. This is probably because its mother will lay another egg at that time and there won't be room for the first chick any more. Because of the slow maturation and single egg clutch size, the condor population is slow to rebuild. Condors are also very sensitive to noise and require a large home range, so as development, hunting and highways encroached on their habitat, their population decreased to the brink of extinction.

Since the 1980s, however, recovery plans have been put in place and critical habitat wilderness areas, like the Sespe Wilderness, reserved for them. There have been quite a few condors bred in captivity and released into the wild. Some of the released birds have been witnessed laying eggs and rearing their young. Even though the population is increasing slowly, the condor is still endangered and fully protected.