However, they may lay a replacement clutch if their first or even second egg is lost. The egg is incubated by both parents and hatches after approximately 56 days. Both parents share responsibilities for providing the nestling with food and warmth. At two to three months of age, condor chicks leave the nest but remain in the vicinity of the nest where they are fed by their parents. The chick takes its first flight at about six to seven months of age but may not become fully independent until the following year.
Chicks learn from their parents how to fly and find food.
Parents will look after their young up to two years after hatching. Foraging Condors are obligate scavengers, meaning they feed only on carcasses of animals. A condor's sharp beak and strong neck muscles allow them to tear into animal hide and feed. They forage widely as far as 150 miles a day looking for deer, elk, livestock and marine mammals. Having located a potential food item, condors frequently remain in the air circling high above the carcass before landing.