his was an important year for Grand Canyon birds. Tom Fergason and Sharon Hester independently reported the first scissor-tailed flycatcher (Tyrannus forficatus) observed in the park, and a remarkable political effort returned the California condor (Gymnogyps californianus) to Grand Canyon.
California condors are a member of the vulture family, Cathartidae. They have a 9.5 foot wingspan and weigh up to 22 pounds. They reach sexual maturity at five years of age and may live for decades. Condors existed in the Canyon from Pleistocene times until about 1924, roosting and probably nesting in Grand Canyon caves. Condors are opportunistic scavengers, feeding on large road-killed mammals and dead whales. Baldness protects them from excess build-up of decaying meat on their heads. Condors often forage socially, and may fly more than 100 miles per day at speeds of up to 50 mph. Like many of us, these birds are late risers, warming up until mid-morning, and returning to their roosts in late afternoon. Condors do not build nests, but lay their 5-inch, 10 ounce egg on bare ground on the floors of caves or crevices. Their eggs hatch after 56 days, and both parents regurgitate dead meat chunks to their adorable offspring.
This species declined throughout its range during this century, with virtually all deaths associated with human activities. In 1987 the last remaining 27 California condors were taken into captivity, and an intensive breeding program was initiated in the attempt to save North America's largest bird species. Thanks to the dedicated efforts of biologists, such as Noel Snyder, the Peregrine Fund (director Bill Burnham and project coordinator Bill Heinrich), and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) Condor Project Director Robert Mesta, the condor population reached 120 birds in 1996. The FWS, the Bureau of Land Management and Arizona and Utah State wildlife departments promoted a Condor release program to reinstate this species across its historic range.

On 12 December 1996, four female and two male condors were released from holding/rearing pens at the top of the Vermillion Cliffs in House Rock Valley. These birds were seven months old, an age at which condors fledge. Condors apparently imprint on their natal fledging site, so hopefully they will remain in the vicinity as they mature. Adult birds might have imprinted on their fledging site and therefore were not used for this release.
The release of the California condors was attended by 500 tripods and nearly 1,000 enthusiasts, school children and politicians, including Bruce Babbitt, Fife Symington, John McCain, and numerous environmental groups. Peregrine Fund director Bill Burnham emceed the festivities, and Jones Benally, an elder of the Navajo Tribe, blessed the ceremony. A rearing pen door opened at 10:30 a.m., and Arizona's first free condor in 72 years hopped up on a rock and spread its wings, as if to take a bow. The other condors soon followed, and gradually disappeared from view. Within one hour a FWS staff person radioed the news that a condor was seen soaring over Highway 89A, creating a six-car traffic jam. Additional condor releases are scheduled in New Mexico and annually in Arizona, until a viable population has been established. The released birds will be supplied with food until they can forage successfully for themselves.
Some of the condors have remained in the vicinity, and as many as 500 condor enthusiasts per day have visited the viewing site to observe these magnificent birds. How long will it be until these birds rediscover the Grand Canyon caves their ancestors occupied? Will the same fervent enthusiasm attend the establishment of a second population of endangered humpback chub or Kanab ambersnail?

Elizabeth A. Baldwin and Lawrence E. Stevens