It was a beautiful July morning in the Sierra San Pedro de Martír National Park. Our California condor team was ready to release four more birds into the Baja California mountain range and it was picture perfect ““ and that was a problem. Picture perfect means beautiful, but it is not ideal for releasing condors. The skies were too calm; without wind and thermals condors would not fly. There were already 10 endangered California condors free in this area. The Zoological Society of San Diego has been releasing condors in this Mexican national park since 2002. But on this day (Tuesday, July 19, 2005) none of them were flying, and it was already 10 a.m. when the team prepared to open the doors to the pen holding the four new condors, hatched and prepared for this day at the San Diego Zoo’s Wild Animal Park.

This late in the morning, the condors would normally have already caught air and would be soaring. Not today. We sat patiently about 200 yards (180 meters) away on a different mountain watching the holding pen with binoculars, cameras ready. We knew these four birds, two males and two females, would not leave the enclosure until the other condors stirred from a lazy morning. As the hours went by all I could think was, ” Come on wind ““ pick up!” I had been to San Pedro de Martír twice before. Both times we had delivered condors that would be released, but because they stay in the holding pen for approximately two to three months before they are released, I had yet to see this event occur. I was lucky on my first trip to see a California condor flying in the pristine mountain range, but seeing them come out of the holding pen would be a first for me”¦ if they would only come out.

We continued to wait as patiently as possible, watching the previously released condors feed on carcasses placed on rock outcroppings by the condor team the night before. The sun was getting higher in the beautiful blue skies and it was warming up. Surely the condors would not fly much if it gets too hot, I thought to myself. And still no wind. It was fascinating to watch the behavior of the condors in the pen. They were certainly interested in what was happening outside but they did not seem to realize that the two openings meant they could exit into the expansive wilderness of this national park.

Out of nowhere my hair began to whisper and then lift as a gentle wind finally blew. ” YES! At last,” I thought. It wasn’t quite enough, but the wind was picking up. Suddenly there were condors flying overhead. It was a spectacular sight seeing so many condors in flight. It seemed every time one landed another took off. Although we have California condors flying freely in our country ““ both in California and Arizona ““ most people have never seen a condor in flight. This is the largest bird species in North America. Its 9-foot (2.7-meter) wingspan and its black and white flight feathers scream, ” I’m a condor, watch me fly!” If you are lucky enough to see a California condor flying freely, you’re most likely in the Los Padres National Forest or at the Grand Canyon.

Soon after those condors flew, one of the new females, No. 321 (most condors are only issued an identification number and tag, not a name), moved to an opening in the pen where, with a few flaps of her wings, she took her first flight into freedom. Saving the California condor is an ambitious act that included removing the last free-flying representative of this species in 1987. He was taken to the Wild Animal Park for an intensive breeding program. There were only 27 California condors left then. Today, there are 278 California condors and 125 are flying freely because of the efforts of the California Condor Recovery Program, led by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and involving several state agencies and animal facilities like the Wild Animal Park.

Two minutes after No. 321 took wing she was followed by Nos. 325 and 322. That left one lone male in the pen. It took No. 323 five hours to join the rest of birds but the team waited diligently, watching the pecking order change as the new birds approached the veterans. No. 321 was quickly accepted into the hierarchy and was allowed to feed on the carcasses the other birds had gorged on earlier. There were a few mishaps, including a couple of crash landings and moments when the new birds did not seem to know how to get out of the trees. Since these condors have been reintroduced, they have to learn to fly and feed themselves. Luckily, as they become skilled in the open skies of their native habitats, there are teams of people watching out for them in both the United States and Mexico. As the day ended the four new birds were left under the capable wings of the veteran condors. All is in order, thanks to the wind and the California Condor Recovery Team.

Yadira Galindo is a public relations representative for the Zoological Society of San Diego.

Here’s more information about the California Condor Recovery Program.

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