Largest Bird of the Americas Flies to a Comeback (It’s Still Endangered)

Following a twelve-year-long project destined to restore the endangered condor on its ancestral territory in northern California, the Yurok Tribe will launch their own condors into flight next year.

“This is absolutely an application of our tribal sovereignty,” says Yurok Vice Chairperson Frankie Myers, who has been involved with the program since its inception. “This shows that collaboration and building capacity are important for connecting our tribal governments’ will with the cultural needs of the people.”

The last 12 years have been dedicated to studying viable habitats for North America’s largest bird, and how to care for them. The tribe should receive its first condors in 2021. First, they will be kept in enclosures for three months where they will socialize and form the bonds of a flock. Their release will mark the new phase of the project. Condors will breed once they reach the age of six or eight, and biologists will monitor the birds’ health and vitality over the next few decades. “We’re doing it for the next generation, so they don’t have to grow up in a world where they don’t know Condor,” says Tiana Williams-Claussen, Yurok tribal member and director of the tribe’s wildlife department.