The California condor is a large, distinctly marked vulture, with a 9-foot wingspan, glossy black feathers and white markings on its wings. A dark ruff borders its bald head and neck. These condors lived in California's Los Angeles and Santa Barbara counties and are thought to have formerly ranged along the Pacific Coast from Canada to Mexico and across the southern United States. They are carrion eaters, feeding on the carcasses of dead deer, cattle and sheep. Years ago, when their range was wider, they fed on elk and antelope carcasses and on dead seals, whales and fish along the coast.
Condors are monogamous and pair for life.
The females lays one egg every other year in cliff caves. If an egg is broken or taken early in the breeding season, they will often lay another. It may take a baby chick more than two years to grow from an egg to independence. In 1983, the world population of California condors was reduced to about 23. Lead poisoning, caused by eating carrion shot by hunters.