Four endangered California condors will be released into the wild

Four young California condors bred in captivity (Gymnogyps california) will be released on Saturday, September 28 at Vermilion Cliffs National Monument in northern Arizona. The 28th annual event celebrating these endangered birds will also be broadcast live on The Peregrine Fund’s YouTube channel at 1 p.m. MDT/11 p.m. PDT.

All of the baby condors were hatched at the Peregrine Foundation’s World Nocturnal Bird Center in Boise, Idaho. The Peregrine Fund worked with the Oregon Zoo, the Los Angeles Zoo and the San Diego Zoo Safari Park to bring them to Vermilion Cliffs National Monument to release the endangered birds into the wild.

Andean condors are the largest bird species in North America and a key part of the ecosystem, but in the 1980s the California condor population dropped to just 22 individuals. Raptors have faced a deadly combination of habitat loss, poaching, lead poisoning, power line accidents, the insecticide dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) and, most recently, highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI), or bird flu.

California condors are also considered sacred in many indigenous cultures. The Yurok tribe of the Pacific Northwest calls California condors “prey, go-neesh” in Yurok, and these birds have been attached to the Yurok Hlkelonah, or cultural and ecological landscape, since the beginning of time. Since 2008, the tribe has officially been a driving force in the condor reintroduction effort. This work and an interdisciplinary recovery program for California condors helped save them from the brink of extinction.

(Related: A CT scan allows us to look inside a California Andean condor egg.)

As of June 2024, there are 85 condors left in the wild in a rugged canyon in northern Arizona and southern Utah. The total global population of endangered California condors is over 560 individuals. Half of them fly for free in Arizona, Utah, California and Mexico.

The first condor release at Vermilion Cliffs National Monument occurred on December 12, 1996. The event was broadcast live in 2020 due to COVID-19 restrictions and reached over 10,000 viewers. Last year was the first year in which this premiere did not take place due to bird flu. The virus has killed 21 condors in a flock in Utah and Arizona, and officials have not released any condors to prevent additional infections.

(Related: A thriving young California condor is a ray of hope for this unique species.)

During the recent HPAI outbreak, a female California condor chick became a poster bird for resilience after its mother died from HPAI and was raised by foster parents at The Peregrine Fund’s breeding center. He is scheduled to be officially released at this year’s release party.

“This year’s condor release will be especially significant given the losses we have suffered in 2023 from HPAI and lead poisoning,” Tim Hauck, program director of the California condor program at The Peregrine Fund, said in a statement. “With only 85 condors remaining in the Utah and Arizona flock and lead poisoning remaining a serious problem, the release of these four condors will have a significant impact on the population recovery program. But this year’s California Andean release is not just a celebration of these four condors, it is a moment of triumph for the biologists, volunteers, wildlife rehabilitators, recovery partners and supporters who have persevered throughout the past year.”

(Related: Inside the Yurok Tribe’s mission to ensure the development of critically endangered condors.)

The condor team cannot accurately predict when the birds will decide to leave the enclosure, so the live broadcast will be in picture-in-picture mode using a camera located in the enclosure. It will also feature videos and interviews with condor biologists and conservationists who work with these unique birds.

The condor conservation effort is a collaborative effort between federal, state and private partners, including the Peregrine Fund, the Bureau of Land Management’s Vermilion Cliffs National Monument, and the Utah Bureau of Land Management (BLM), Arizona Game and Fish Department, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Grand Canyon and Zion National Parks, Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, Kaibab and Dixie National Forests, and tribes (Kaibab Band of Paiute Indians (Kaibab-Paiute Tribe) and Navajo Nation), as well as several other supporting groups and individuals.