New Condor? | God's World News
New Condor?
News Shorts
Posted: June 04, 2019

Who’s new at the Zion National Park? It’s a baby condor . . . probably.

Park rangers suspect a pair of endangered California condors has hatched their first egg in the Utah park. How can they tell?  The mom and dad birds are acting a little out of the ordinary.

As far as people know, a California condor chick has never survived hatching in Utah. If the chick survives, it would be Utah’s first! Zion spokeswoman Aly Baltrus says three chicks have been born at the park but have died before they were old enough to fly.

The two parent condors were the only breeding pair in Zion as of last year. Park rangers guess they’ve been together for two years. They think the chick is about three weeks old.

Once, people saw the birds all along the Pacific Coast and in parts of the U.S. Southwest. But by the late 1900s, the birds had disappeared. People knew of only 22 still alive in the wild. Why? Some had been poisoned by lead. Others had been hunted. Many had had their homes destroyed.

California condors have red heads and huge wingspans—nearly 10 feet across. (When stretched all the way out, they’re just a little shorter than a Volkswagen beetle car.) The birds live on what’s left of dead animals and livestock. People have done a lot of work to bring the birds back from the brink. A new baby is a great sign of a condor comeback!

A California condor flies in Zion National Park in Utah in April. (National Parks Service via AP)