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California Condor FAQ

Why are condors important?

California condors are vultures. Like all vultures, they are scavengers and feed on carrion. Condors prefer large dead animals such as whales, deer, elk and cattle, but they also eat rodents and even fish.
Condors play a critical role in ecosystems by recycling nutrients over large areas. As wide ranging scavengers, they help filter nutrient cycles by disposing of dead, diseaseridden animals. They range locally and improve the system for all.
They can eat up to three pounds of food in one sitting, allowing them to clean up large amounts of dead animals.
California condors rely on their keen eyesight to locate food and have been known to fly up to 200 miles a day in search of carrion.
Condors are inquisitive and intelligent. Traditionally this charismatic bird has been revered in the West, and cultural connections to condors today can help local communities address the larger issues of ecosystem health and function in combination with recognizing and honoring the spiritual heritage of tribal nations.

What is the historic and current range?

The condor is a relic of the Ice Age. Its lineage includes the giant Teratornis mettiami, with which it scavenged the carcasses of massive mammoths and mastodons during the Pleistocene era.
Fossil records show that the California condor ranged all over North America, feasting on the mega-fauna during prehistoric times. Condor bones have been found from British Columbia to Southern California and from Florida to upstate New York.
In recent history, condors have ranged primarily over the Pacific, from British Columbia to Baja Mexico, where they’ve fed on large carcasses supplied by abundant marine mammal populations. They also ranged interiorly from the coast toward the Rocky Mountains, probably following salmon runs and feeding on pronghorn and mountain sheep inland. One ethnographic account from the Blackfoot tribe indicates Pacific Northwest condors may have made occasional excursions over the Rockies to feed on bison, perhaps in tandem with the great Indian hunts or the late massacre of these animals.
In 1805 and 1806, Lewis and Clark found condors along the Lower Columbia River and witnessed them feeding on whale carcasses at the river’s mouth near present-day Astoria. Sketching pictures of condors in their journals, they were the first to describe the birds to western science. Stable condor populations of the West began a steady decline following the first Euro-American contact.
By the time of early European settlement and the California gold rush, western condor populations had retreated significantly. They receded south (from the Pacific Northwest) and west (from the Rockies) and by the 1950s were restricted to the mountains of Central and Southern California. They survived longer in this southern core range thanks in part to the large Spanish ranches, which provided scavengers with a steady supply of beef as marine and other food supplies dwindled.
By 1980, with so much of the former ecosystem abundance gone, and continued high mortality rates coupled with a low reproductive rate, only a remnant population of these great birds was left in the San Joaquin Mountains.
Now, after intensive efforts to save them, condors survive in three highly managed populations: one in Baja California, Mexico; one in Arizona near the Grand Canyon; and the other in the Southern California coast range.

What is the Oregon Zoo doing?

The Oregon Zoo is the newest partner on the Condor Recovery Team and is successfully rearing chicks for reintroduction at existing release sites. The Oregon Zoo joined restoration efforts in 2003 with six breeding pairs.
We currently have a total of 28 birds. We also have two fledgling pens and room for five additional breeding pairs.
We fledged two chicks a year until 2007, when we fledged three.
So far, only one of the Oregon condors, “Kun Wak Shun” (#340), has been released into the wild, in Big Sur, Calif., but four more of “our” birds will be released in Arizona; two this year and two next year.
We are conducting field research of potential areas in Oregon for releasing condors but this remains a distant goal.
We are collaborating with local tribal leadership interested in PNW condor recovery efforts.

What is the California condor’s plight?

The California condor is being pulled back from brink of extinction. The remnant California population was devastated by the mid 1980s and their numbers dwindled to 22 birds in 1986 representing the entire population.
In the spring of 1987, the last wild condor was captured (AC-9) in a last-ditch effort to save the species. The goal was to increase the number of condors through captive breeding methods and restore three genetically distinct populations of 150 animals.
Condors depend on their intelligence for survival and require a tremendous amount of parental investment in the wild. This is one of the reasons why they have a low productivity rate. Normally condors lay only a single egg every other year, but in captivity this process can be sped up. If the egg is removed from the nest to be hatched in an incubator, female condors will usually lay a second egg. Sometimes this process can be repeated a third time. This procedure is known as double- and triple-clutching, and with human intervention it has worked as an efficient method to dramatically improve the numbers of condors. Without the success of this practice, condors would be extinct today. On the contrary, there are approximately 300 birds living today with more than 10 fledglings in the wild this year!
Culturally, condors have not been held with the same high degree of respect and praise given to them by tribal societies. Shooting, poisoning and electrocution by power lines have all contributed to the high mortality rate condors suffer.
Today, one of the largest barriers to the condor’s successful reintroduction is lead poisoning. As condors feed on carrion or gut piles created by hunters, they unintentionally ingest lead bullet fragments. This is called “secondary poisoning.” Lead poisoning can also occur though a process of bioaccumulation. This happens if condors accidentally feed on too many animals killed by lead shot from either seasonal hunting or the depredation of unwanted animals such as pigs.
Distributing a toxin in an ecosystem poisons the whole system (including people); condors act as indicator species of this threat. Secondary poisoning (and electrocution) is also a problem for other raptor species, including bald and golden eagles, which are protected by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act and the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act.

What is wrong with lead ammunition?

Lead rifle ammunition can lose approximately 20 percent of its original weight as it passes through an animal. Some forms of lead bullets will even explode on impact.
Studies conducted by the Peregrine Fund show that lead fragments actually spread throughout the animal in a large array of lead dust and small pieces.
As a soft metal, lead easily enters the bloodstream after it is ingested. When lead enters the body, it causes paralysis of the digestive track and results in a slow death by starvation.

What can hunters do to help condors?

Hunters can help spread the word about lead poisoning, emphasizing that lead ammunition is poisonous to humans and wildlife alike.
Hunters can remove carcasses that have been shot with lead ammunition from the field, or they can bury gut piles. They can also remove all bullets and lead fragments from the wounds of their quarry.
Hunters can use lead-free ammunition. By choosing the right bullet (unleaded ammo) hunters provide a vital seasonal food source for condors when they leave lead free gut piles behind. Food scarcity is a potential barrier to the condor’s survival and this could be a healthy contribution during hunting season.

Additional Information

For more information on the California condor please visit the following Web sites: