Condors may weigh more than 20 pounds. The male Andean condor of South America is even larger than our California condor. Both are endangered species. Gymnogyps is not as heavy as a big turkey and its wings are not as long as those of the wandering albatross. Its only claim to uniqueness in size is that it has the largest wingspread of any North American land bird .
Condors can soar and glide for hours without beating their wings.
After rising thousands of feet overhead on air currents, California condors will glide long distances, sometimes at more than 55 miles per hour. From the air, they search for dead animals, like deer or cattle. Condor nest sites are in cliff caves in the mountains. Some condors have nested in large cavities in the trunks of giant sequoia redwood trees. Nesting condors raise only one chick at a time.