The Grand Canyon is a desert bird watchers paradise with over 300 species living throughout the national park, but one bird the California condor outshines them all. Nearly extinct just a short 30 years ago, the condor is North America’s largest bird with a wingspan of over nine feet long. Thanks to painstakingly done research and an elaborate breading program, Grand Canyon visitors’ today can catch a glimpse of this majestic bird as it soars high above the canyon floor scanning the rocky terrain for its next meal.
On Path to Extinction
Condors weren’t always on the path to extinction. Over 10,000 years ago condors inhabited a majority of America’s southwest and the deep south as far east as Florida as well as the northeastern seaboard. The condors thrived feeding off of large game including saber tooth tigers, mastodons and camels. Then approximately 10,000 years ago the condors’ large game population began to die off and the condors were forced to migrate west to the west coast of America and the southwest desert. The condors lived within the west for thousands of years until European settlers began to move into the area, building homesteads, running telegraph wires and using guns to shoot game.
By the 1880′s condors were scattered across Arizona and Utah. As more settlers hunted game across the southwest lead poisoning became a major killer of the condors as they fed on decaying game infested with lead particles from bullets. The population dwindled and near the end of the 1930′s it was reported that no condors lived outside of California. The condor, which had once roamed across a large portion of North America, was nearly extinct.
Saving the Population
In 1967 after the condors’ numbers had fallen into the double digits the condor was placed on the federal endangered species list and scientists banded together to try and help solve the problem of the condor’s dwindling population. In 1983 the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service began an initiative to bread the condors in captivity with help from the San Diego Wild Animal Park and Los Angeles Zoo.
Condors typically mate for life and lay one egg roughly every year or so, so scientists knew that in order to bring the population back to sustainable numbers they would need to streamline the process. In order to do this scientists would take the egg from the birds once they were laid and use an incubator to look after the egg until it hatched. When the egg hatches the scientists use a large hand puppet in the shape of a condor to raise the baby bird. The parents continue to lay eggs sometimes laying up to 3 eggs a year.
But it wasn’t always smooth sailing. In 1985 only nine wild birds remained and in a controversial decision scientists decided to bring them into captivity. From 1987 to 1992 condors could only be found in captivity. During this time the population increased from 27 to approximately 150 condors helping stabilize the population.
Reintroducing them into the wild
In 1992 several condors were released back into the wild within California. In 1996 the first batch of six captivity-bred condors were released within Arizona 30 miles from the Grand Canyon. The release meant wild condors were flying over the Grand Canyon for the first time in 70 years. Since the initial release, approximately 70 condors now inhabit parts of Arizona and Utah. There have even been several wild-born condors within the Grand Canyon. Though there are still roughly 100 condors in captivity over 100 condors are wild within the southwest and Baja California.
Spotting a Condor
The Grand Canyon is so big it can be tough to spot a condor, but experts suggest some of the best places are along the South Rim near the Bright Angle Trail. During hot summer months the condors typically can be seen floating along convection currents high above Indian Gardens far below. Though sometimes condors can be mistaken for vultures, the most efficient way to identify them is to look for white spots on the underside of their wings.
