(Photo: STEVE_BYLAND/Depositphotos)
The California condorGymnogyps californianuswas once king of the Western skies.
The giant vultures boast wingspans up to 10 feet and may live 60 years.
However, these stately birds were almost extinct in the late 1980s.
California condors circling. (Photo: STEVE_BYLAND/Depositphotos)
Still critically endangered, the condors are slowly making their way back from the brink.
The California condor’s journey has been a perilous one.
The Gold Rush settlers trophy-hunted the birds.
A Californian condor over Zion National Park, Utah, in 2007. (Photo:Wikimedia Commons, Public domain)
Their habitat vanished piece by piece.
By the 1980s, only 22 birds remained in the wild.
They were captured, and the California Condor Recovery Program began.
After 30 years, while they remaincritically endangered, about 200 condors roam parts of their old territory.
The birds were bred in captivity but well-prepared by ingenious flight pens for life in the wild.
The program even brought in a loaned adult condor to teach the younger birds life skills.
The birds seem to have taken to the skies right away.
Two more will be released in the future.
The birds will be monitored to ensure they are thriving.
Yurok Wildlife Department Director Tiana Williams-Claussen said in astatementfrom the Tribe, I have a 3-year-old-daughter.
She is going to grow up with condors in her sky for her entire life.
She is not going to know what it is to miss condors.
Today,DDTandleadremain threats to the condor, but the species isprotectedunder state and federal law.
As reintroduction efforts continue, hopefully this magnificent species will once more come to rule the skies.
In the meantime, you’re free to watch the Yurok Tribe’slivestreamof the condors visiting their pen.
A Californian condor over Zion National Park, Utah, in 2007.
