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CALIFORNIA
CONDOR
Gymnogyps
californianus
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Endangered,
federal Endangered Species Act
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Endangered,
California Endangered Species Act
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Fully
Protected Species, California Dep't of Fish & Game
The California condor is the
largest bird in North America, with a wingspan of up to nine and
half feet. It is also one of our country’s most imperiled
animals. Fewer than two dozen condors remained in the wild in
the 1980s when a controversial decision was made to capture all
remaining wild condors and breed them in captivity. Now, two
decades later, more than 150 condors command the skies in the
wild, including more than 75 flying free in California. Most
condor habitat in California is in the Los Padres National
Forest, highlighting the importance of protecting this critical
habitat.
With their numbers on the rise,
condors still face a variety of threats, including habitat loss,
oil and gas drilling activities, lead poisoning, shooting,
microtrash ingestion, and collisions with power lines.
ForestWatch and a dedicated team of volunteers are working to
reduce many of these threats in and around the Los Padres
National Forest.
The Decline of the Condor
Thousands of years ago, the bird ranged throughout the western
and southern parts of North America, from British Columbia to
Baja California, including parts of Arizona, New Mexico, Texas,
and even Florida, though now the condor is found only in a small
u-shaped area in Southern California, as well as in parts of
Arizona and Baja California. Throughout this time period the
bird was revered by native peoples, who celebrated the condor in
cave paintings and religious rituals. The condor retains its
cultural significance to the Chumash and other native peoples
today.
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The
condor's historic range (shown in red)
compared to current range (shown in green). |
By 1900 the condor’s range became almost exclusively restricted
to California, as the bird increasingly became a victim of
shooting, habitat depletion, lead poisoning from bullet
fragments in animal carcasses, and egg shell thinning from the
pesticide DDT. The California condor is now one of the most
endangered birds in the world, with more than 150 condors in the
wild, and about the same number in captivity. The population of
condors reached perilously low numbers in the 1980s, with only
nine birds in the wild when the decision was made to capture all
the remaining birds for a captive breeding program.
Early Protection Efforts
Recognizing these threats, in 1937 the U.S. Forest Service
established the first sanctuary for the condor, encompassing
about 1,200 acres near the headwaters of the Sisquoc River in
the Los Padres National Forest. In 1947 a second sanctuary – the
Sespe Condor Sanctuary – was established in the Los Padres,
covering an additional 35,000 acres. The Sespe Condor Sanctuary
was then expanded to 53,000 acres in 1951.
 In
1953 the California Department of Fish and Game made it unlawful
to “take” any condors. In 1967 the bird was included on the
nation’s first federal list of endangered species; and in 1971
the condor was officially protected under the California
Endangered Species Act. In the next few years, the U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service would acquire Hopper Mountain and Bitter Creek
National Wildlife Refuges to preserve important foraging and
roosting grounds for the condor. In 1976 the Fish and Wildlife
Service also designated critical habitat for the condor in nine
areas in California, including areas around the Sisquoc and
Sespe Condor Sanctuaries and other areas of the southern portion
of Los Padres National Forest, Hi Mountain and Castle Crags in
the Los Padres in San Luis Obispo County, and lands in Kern
County.
The Captive Breeding Program
Despite these protections, condor populations continued to
decline, and 1982 marked the lowest population numbers for the
condor, with less than two dozen birds in the wild and three
held in captivity. By 1986 the wild population was so low that
the controversial decision was made to catch the remaining nine
condors and breed them exclusively in captivity to maximize
genetic diversity and survival of the chicks. The last wild
condor was captured in the Los Padres National Forest’s Sespe
Condor Sanctuary in April 1987.
 After
five years of captive breeding, wildlife biologists began to
release condors back into the wild in 1992 at the Sespe Condor
Sanctuary. The release program got off to a rough start,
however, with several condor deaths, and the birds were
recaptured. The condor program was reevaluated, and changes such
as power line and human aversion programs were implemented to
minimize the threats to the released condors.
Releases were continued in 1995 starting with the Sespe Condor
Sanctuary, and today the Los Padres remains as the primary
condor reintroduction site in California. Biologists also
started releasing condors in Arizona in 1996 and other sites
such as the Ventana Wilderness, Pinnacles National Monument,
Bitter Creek, and Baja California in the following years. As
greater numbers of birds are reintroduced, condors have also
been seen in the Angeles National Forest, Sequoia National
Forest, and San Bernadino National Forest, moving into their
historic range. They can travel as far as 150 miles per day to
scavenge for food (the carcasses of dead animals which they
locate with their very keen eyesight in open areas such as
grasslands and beaches.)
 The
Condor Recovery Program has the long-term goal of establishing
two stable populations of condors, one in California and one in
Arizona, each with 150 condors and 15 breeding pairs. As of
November 2007 there are 72 condors in the wild in California,
including 56 in Los Padres National Forest and 16 in Pinnacles
National Monument, 60 in Arizona, and 16 in Baja California. The
population-building process is slow-going for the condors
though, as it takes them about six to eight years to reach
sexual maturity and a condor pair may only lay one egg every two
years. Several condor chicks have successfully hatched in the
wild since releases began, however, and the number is continuing
to increase.
Current Threats to the Condor
 With
the ability to fly more than 150 miles in a single day, and a
penchant for curiosity, the California condor is particularly
susceptible to human development. It depends on large swaths of
land for foraging, is exposed to high levels of environmental
toxins due to its scavenging behavior, and has life history
characteristics that do not allow for rapid recovery from
depleted populations. Condors mate for life, have long life
spans (up to 60 years by some estimates), and take up to six
years to reach maturity. Moreover, a mated pair may only lay a
single egg, every two years. Thus losses incurred at any stage
in a condor’s life, adult or juvenile, can have a heavy impact
on the condor population.
Lead Bullets.
In the 1800s and 1900s the greatest threats to the condor
were lead poisoning from bullet fragments in animal carcasses,
shooting of the condors by hunters, and habitat depletion. By
the 20th century these threats had been exacerbated by increased
human population, and added to with the poisoning of animals
considered pests (such as coyotes) and the increased use of
agricultural pesticides such as DDT, which caused the thinning
of eggshells and subsequent crushing of eggs. This threat
diminished with the banning of DDT in the US, but no action was
taken until very recently to decrease the amount of lead in
bullets, which the condors would consume when feeding on
carcasses or gutpiles left by hunters. The State of California
recently passed a law requiring hunters to use non-lead
ammunition in the condor range.
 Microtrash
Ingestion. Condors continue to be threatened by
collisions with powerlines and consumption of microtrash (small
pieces of broken glass, bullet casings, bottle caps, and other
small pieces of metal). Microtrash in particular is quickly
becoming one of the greatest threats to the condor’s continued
existence, representing the number one cause of condor chick
mortality. Adult condors, for yet unknown reasons, pick up these
small pieces of trash and take them back to their nests, where
the condor chicks eat it. If they consume too much trash the
chicks can’t survive without having the trash surgically
removed. With the help of volunteers and nonprofit organizations
like ForestWatch, efforts are being made to clean up microtrash
from areas that condors are known to visit.
Oil Development.
In the Los Padres National Forest, the California condor
also faces the potentially disastrous threat of oil-drilling.
The Los Padres is the only national forest in California that
allows oil drilling, and the main drilling area – the Sespe
Oil Field – is located
along the boundary of the Sespe Condor Sanctuary and the Hopper
Mountain National Wildlife Refuge. Condors can become habituated
to oil drilling equipment and there are several documented
 cases
of condors being harmed by oil drilling activities. In April
2002, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service had to flush Condor #100
from an oil pad, and later recorded oil on its face and wings.
The agency later determined that the condor became oiled while
trying to tear an oily rag from a pipe. Federal biologists also
noted in 2005 that a condor became oiled due to “a small spill
of oil that occurred when the condor was present and flew down
to the spill before the workers could remove the oil.” Other
condors have been found with oil on their heads, according to
the Fish & Wildlife Service. Additionally, several oil spills
have occurred in or near condor habitat in recent years,
including a major oil spill in the Sespe Oil Field that covered
three miles of Tar Creek in January 2007. Reportedly no condors
were harmed in this oil spill, though the oil came all too close
to areas along the creek where condors have been observed
drinking and bathing.
Urban Sprawl. Additionally, urban sprawl in
southern California continues to threaten condor habitat. While
the release areas for the condors are located on public lands,
condors range long distances to forage for food, and much of
their historical foraging habitat is either developed, or under
threat of development. Key among these are Tejon Ranch in Kern
County, where more than XX homes are proposed.
ForestWatch: Helping to Protect the Condor
ForestWatch is dedicated to
protecting the California condor and the magnificent habitat of
this giant bird, and is the only local organization working to
protect the condor from runaway oil development. In 2005, the
federal government approved a plan to expand oil development in
areas dangerously close to condor habitat. We filed a lawsuit to
challenge the plan, and that case is still pending in federal
court. In 2007, ForestWatch successfully halted a proposal to
drill two new oil wells in foraging habitat for the condor,
along the edge of the Sespe Condor Sanctuary.
 In
2007, ForestWatch began organizing teams of volunteers to clean
up microtrash from sites where condors are known to visit. After
initial efforts on Whittaker Peak near the Sespe Wilderness, we
expanded our efforts in late 2007 to include more remote
backcountry sites throughout the Los Padres National Forest. If
you would like to help (and see some spectacular scenery at the
same time), sign up to join
us on our next microtrash cleanup!
Condor Resources
To learn more about the
California condor, the Condor Recovery Program, and threats to
the condor, we encourage you visit the websites of the following
government agencies and nonprofits involved with protecting this
amazing bird and the habitat that it has called home for
thousands of years:
 Defenders
of Wildlife
Center for Biological Diversity
Audubon Society
Hi-Mountain Lookout
Save
Tejon Ranch
Ventana
Wildlife Society
Birdlife International
Hopper Mountain National Wildlife Refuge
Project
Gutpile
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