We revisited the California condor restocking area at Vermillion Cliffs near Marble Canyon, AZ. Facing extinction with less than 20 birds alive in the US in the 1980s, a painstaking and methodical restocking program by USFWS and others has brought their numbers back to around 200 in 2021. Janet was able to capture this remarkable long-distance photo showing a dozen birds perched on top of the restocking pen at the very top of Vermillion Cliffs. Ten per cent of the US condor population in one group!
These massive critters sport a wingspan of nearly ten feet… over twice the spread of a red-tailed hawk and nearly three feet wider than a gold eagle!
Descendants of these prehistoric birds once picked the bones off the carcasses of the wooly mammoth, faced nearly total extinction, and are now making a comeback rise from the dead.
Walk The Earth