Arrow-right Camera
The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Rare Condor Chick Hatches Near Boise

Associated Press

A California condor has been hatched at the World Center for Birds of Prey, the first time one of the rare birds has been hatched outside California in 60 years.

“We had been looking forward to this day,” Bill Burnham, president of the Peregrine Fund, based at the center, said Wednesday. “It’s a great event.”

Biologists have not been able to see much of the 7-ounce chick, which they believe hatched late Wednesday morning in the condors’ outdoor pen.

“It being a cool day out, the parents are very attentive,” Burnham said.

California condors, with wingspans up to 9-1/2 feet, are on the verge of extinction. After their population fell to only 22 birds, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service intervened in 1987 and captured the remaining condors from mountains above Los Angeles.

Since then, the captive population has grown to about 120 birds - including 20 at the center about five miles south of Boise. Last year, 17 condors were released into the wild near Los Angeles.

While rare raptors often are taken from their parents and hand-raised by biologists, the parents of the new chick are being allowed to raise the young bird themselves.