California Condor

Quick Facts 

Name: California Condor 

Diet: Carrion AKA dead animals 

Behaviour: Diurnal and social 

Lifespan: 45-80 years but around 60 on average 

Size: They can weigh between 7 and 11kg with a body length of around 1.3cm and a wingspan of around 3m 

Habitat/Range: They nest in caves and ledges on steep rocky terrain and forage in a range of habitats such as grasslands, beaches, and savanna foothills. They are currently only found in Arizona, Southern California, and Utah in the US and Baja California in Mexico 

Threats: Lead poisoning, electrocution, microplastics, habitat loss, predation, traffic accidents, rodenticide poisoning, and eggshell thinning from pesticide poisoning. 

Conservation Status: Critically endangered 

Names: California condor, Cóndor Californiano

Size: Condors can weigh anything from 7 to 11 kg and their wings can span 2.5 to 3 metres. In the UK, that's a small bedroom!

Favourite hangout: Rocky scrubland, forest, cliff ledges and big trees with lovely holes that could be homes. Ideally somewhere remote, away from the hustle and bustle.

Favourite snack: Nothing too... alive. Condors love dead animals. Deer and cattle carcasses are good – but they LOVE a squirrel.

Love language: Somewhere between six and eight years old, condors start having lusty thoughts. Once they’ve found a willing candidate to love, the pair indulge in erotically charged flights. They may also nibble at each other’s skin and feathers. The Act, when it happens, takes about a minute – which may be a disappointment for some. Even so, they rarely dump each other. Being of a loyal and sensible frame of mind, many mate for life.

If you see them: Try imagining for a moment what it must be like to glide for hours as high as 4,500 metres...

Red flags: Californian condors are mainly scavengers, meaning they love to snack on dead animals. Yum! You'd think freshly hunted deer leftovers would be a green flag, but sadly, that's not the case. In the condor's North American home, lead bullets are often used in hunting, and young chicks will gobble the metal remains stuck in their dead prey, leading to fatal lead poisoning. If they manage to dodge the bullets, they're still threatened by eating microplastics, electrocution by powerlines, and collisions with cars while feeding on roadkill.

Growth: Moms- and dads-to-be will spend hours checking out potential nest sites, but the female has the final say on where they nest. Single egg laying usually happens between January and April, and the parents incubate the egg for two solid months before it hatches. Afterwards, they share caring duties, which are intense in the first few weeks. It’s not unheard of for one of them to fly 160 kilometres in search of food for their bald, downy chicks! In time, they get a fluffy coat of grey down feathers, which makes way to sleek black flight feathers, and by five or six months, it’s ready to meet the world.

Facts: The California condor is the largest land bird in North America and was once spotted from British Columbia to New York to Florida. Now this majestic black-winged vulture soars the skies of California’s deserts – but there are populations in Utah, Arizona, and Mexico. Although couples tend to love each other for life, in 2021, two California condors in San Diego Zoo gave birth from unfertilised eggs, which is known as ‘virgin birth’ or parthenogenesis. It's not the first time. Although it's happened among some isolated desert and island species, this was a first for birds with access to fertile males.

Personality type? The scavenger... The do-it-yourself-er!

How at risk is it? Critically Endangered