California condor chick hatched in part of recovery program

PAICINES, Calif. — A California condor egg has hatched in Northern California’s wild, the newest member of Pinnacles National Park’s recovery program for the endangered species.

The egg hatched April 12 after two months of roundthe-clock incubation by both parents who protected their fragile egg from the elements and potential predators, park rangers said in a social media post.

Their nest has a video camera installed to help with monitoring and videos shared by the National Park Service this week show one parent feeding the fluffy chick while the other stands guard by the entrance to their refuge.

Since 2003, park rangers at

Pinnacles, a 26,000-acre park in rural San Benito County about 120 miles south of San Francisco, and Ventana Wildlife Society wildlife biologists have managed a release site at the park for captive-bred California condors.

The two parents have been a pair for about five years, and this is their third offspring. One is condor 589, which is managed by the park. The other parent — 569 — is managed by Ventana Wildlife Society.

“Condors typically only have one chick every two years. 589 and 569 are clearly doing their part to help their species and maintain their status as a Pinnacles power couple!” park rangers wrote.

The chick, named 1078, still must survive six more months in the nest, relying on its parents completely for food, protection and companionship.

One of the world’s largest birds with a wingspan up to 10 feet, the condor once patrolled the sky from Mexico to British Columbia.

But its population plummeted to the brink of extinction in the 1970s because of lead poisoning, hunting and habitat destruction.

California condors have been making a comeback in the wild and now occupy parts of California’s Central Coast, Arizona, Utah and Baja California, Mexico. The total wild population now numbers more than 300 birds.

The birds have been protected as an endangered species by federal law since 1967 and by California state law since 1971.