Good news for California condors as huge birds reach crucial breakthrough

February 24, 20164:15 PM MST

Years of intense care, vigilance and dedication focused on the California condor captive breeding program started in the 1980s have reached an astonishing milestone for America’s largest bird. On Monday the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced that “more California condors hatched and fledged in the wild last year than adult wild condors died” and, for the beleaguered condors, that is truly significant news. More specifically, 14 young California condors fledged and left their nests compared to the 12 that died.

While this may seem like only a token in the condors’ survival record, officials are elated by this achievement since only 22 wild California condors remained alive in the 1980s. All of these remaining condors were captured, and a strict breeding program began that has become successful enough to release a few birds into the wild annually.

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