The loss of these gentle creatures has been prevented only through the strenuous and dedicated efforts of many wildlife funds, zoos and individuals. The California Condor is a huge bird covered in dull gray or black feathers. The wings are gray on top but have distinctive white-marked undersides, which are visible, when the Condor soars. Generally, California Condors weigh 20 to 30 pounds. Their featherless heads and necks are a yellow to orange color, and their bills are white.
Immature Condors have dark heads, necks and wing undersides.
California Condors once ranged over the entire Southwestern United States but now reside only in arid regions of California and Arizona and in zoos. Traditionally, they were revered as sacred birds by Native Americans and may have been used in rituals, but with the European settlement of the West, became nearly extinct. Pesticides like DDT in addition to poaching, habitat loss and poisoning killed off a huge number of Condors. Protected by the Endangered Species Act, their numbers had nevertheless dwindled down to 22 wild birds in 1987. Captive breeding programs have had phenomenal success at reintroducing these birds into the wild and now 120 California Condors are in existence.