The California condor is the largest member of the American vulture family. The average adult is nearly four feet long and has a nine-foot wingspan! You can identify an adult California condor by its distinct orange head and prominent white wing linings. Juvenile condors lack this vivid coloring. They are generally brown with mottled wing linings. Juveniles reach full adult plumage within five to eight years.

California condors prefer mountainous country at low and moderate elevations, especially rocky and brushy areas near cliffs. Colonies roost in snags, tall open-branched trees or cliffs, often near important foraging grounds. Captive-reared condors have been released in California and northern Arizona. Many of these birds spend time flying and feeding in southern Utah.

The California condor is among the rarest birds in North America. Over the last century, condor populations declined swiftly due to lead poisoning, cyanide poisoning, shooting and DDT contamination. There were so few condors that biologists used the remaining birds to launch captive breeding efforts in the 1980s. Today, lead poisoning from bullets in animal carcasses is the most critical threat to the success of condor re-introduction efforts. Poorly protected nesting and foraging sites as well as harmful weather conditions and inbreeding are secondary threats to the relatively small re-introduced populations.

In Utah, biologists are focused on reducing lead poisoning in California condors. Known nesting sites and key foraging areas must be protected, and finally, California condors should be re-introduced into suitable habitats.

California condors eat carrion and usually feed on dead sheep, cattle and deer. They typically consume two to three pounds of meat per day. California condors may live for 45 years, and they become sexually mature after the first five to eight years. Because they provide extended care to their offspring, some condor pairs may not breed every year. Condors lay their eggs on the floors of cliff cavities or caves, or sometimes in crevices among boulders on steep slopes. Egg-laying occurs mainly in February or March, and incubation lasts eight weeks. Young condors fly at about five or six months and may be partially dependent on their parents for up to a year.