page_title: California condor
section_title: Historic range
hierarchical_section_title: California condor / Historic range
caption_attribution_description: English: photographer=self
context_page_description: The California condor is a New World vulture, and the largest North American land bird. It became extinct in the wild in 1987, but has since been reintroduced to northern Arizona and southern Utah, the coastal mountains of central and southern California, and northern Baja California. Although four other fossil members are known, it is the only surviving member of the genus Gymnogyps. The species is listed by the IUCN as critically endangered.
  The plumage is black with patches of white on the underside of the wings; the head is largely bald, with skin color ranging from gray on young birds to yellow and bright orange on breeding adults. Its 3.0 m wingspan is the widest of any North American bird, and its weight of up to 12 kg nearly equals that of the trumpeter swan, the heaviest among native North American bird species. The condor is a scavenger and eats large amounts of carrion. It is one of the world's longest-living birds, with a lifespan of up to 60 years.
  Condor numbers dramatically declined in the 20th century due to poaching, lead poisoning, and habitat destruction.
context_section_description: At the time of human settlement of the Americas, the California condor was widespread across North America; condor bones from the late Pleistocene have been found at the Cutler Fossil Site in southern Florida. However, at the end of the last glacial period came the extinction of the megafauna that led to a subsequent reduction in range and population. Five hundred years ago, the California condor roamed across the American Southwest and West Coast. Faunal remains of condors have been found documented in Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico, and Texas. The Lewis and Clark Expedition of the early 19th century reported on their sighting and shooting of California condors near the mouth of the Columbia River.
caption: California oak savanna on the east flank of Sonoma Mountain
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