Genus-level: Species-level: The California condor (Gymnogyps californianus) is a New World vulture and the largest North American land bird.

[5] The plumage is black with patches of white on the underside of the wings; the head is largely bald, with skin color ranging from gray on young birds to yellow and bright orange on breeding adults.

[6] Condor numbers dramatically declined in the 20th century due to agricultural chemicals (DDT), poaching, lead poisoning, and habitat destruction.

[7] A conservation plan put in place by the United States government led to the capture of all the remaining wild condors by 1987, with a total population of 27 individuals.

[18] The South American Classification Committee has removed the New World vultures from Ciconiiformes and instead placed them in Incertae sedis, but notes that a move to Falconiformes or Cathartiformes is possible.

[23] As the climate changed during the last ice age, the entire population became smaller until it had evolved into the Gymnogyps californianus of today,[24][25] although more recent studies by Syverson question that theory.

[22] The adult California condor is a uniform black with the exception of large triangular patches or bands of white on the underside of the wings.

It has gray legs and feet, an ivory-colored bill, a frill of black feathers surrounding the base of the neck, and brownish red eyes.

[41] The Lewis and Clark Expedition of the early 19th century reported on their sighting and shooting of California condors near the mouth of the Columbia River.

[42][43] In the 1970s, two Condor Observation Sites were established in the Santa Clara River Valley to host hopeful birders interested in the endangered species: one about 15 miles north of Fillmore, California, near the Sespe Wildlife Area of Los Padres National Forest, and one atop Mount Pinos, "accessible from a dirt road off the highway in from Gorman".

[49] The pair makes a simple nest in caves or on cliff clefts, especially ones with nearby roosting trees and open spaces for landing.

In 2021, the San Diego Zoo reported having had two unfertilized eggs hatch within its breeding program in 2001 and 2009, producing male young by parthenogenesis as indicated by genetic studies.

[53][54][55] Earlier evidence of similar parthenogenesis in birds found that among the known examples the embryos died before hatching, unlike these condor chicks.

[58] It is thought that in the early days of its existence as a species, the California condor lived off the carcasses of the Pleistocene megafauna, which are largely extinct in North America.

They still prefer to feast on large, terrestrial mammalian carcasses such as deer, goats, sheep, donkeys, horses, pigs, cougars, bears, or cattle.

The study and capture of the remaining California condors was made possible through the efforts of Jan Hamber, an ornithologist with the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History.

[70] In 1988, the United States Fish and Wildlife Service began a reintroduction experiment involving the release of captive Andean condors into the wild in California.

[27] The Fish and Wildlife Service designated the Arizona condors as an experimental, nonessential animal so they would not affect land regulations or development as ranchers were concerned they could be charged with an offense if any birds were injured on their property after the release.

[75][73] Significant past damage to the condor population has also been attributed to poaching,[76] DDT poisoning,[77][78] electric power lines, egg collecting, and habitat destruction.

[79] Its low clutch size (one young per nest) and late age of sexual maturity (≈6 years) make the bird vulnerable to artificial population decline.

Inbreeding may be causing increased incidence of fatal chondrodystrophic dwarfism in wild condors, as well as a syndrome presenting with 14 rather than the typical 12 tail feathers.

In 2015, Bruce Rideout, director of the wildlife disease laboratories for San Diego Zoo Global, indicated that lead poisoning is the most common cause of death for juvenile and adult condors in the wild.

Since the implementation of this aversion conditioning program, the number of condor deaths due to power lines has greatly decreased.

[74] In 2023, Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) infected members of the Utah-Arizona flock, killing 21 condors (including 13 individuals from 8 breeding pairs).

[99] During routine winter trapping intended to assess lead levels, blood samples collected from 21 condors were tested for HPAI antibodies.

About half the samples showed the presence of antibodies to the H5N1 strain of HPAI, indicating these birds were exposed to the virus and survived naturally.

[109] In the spring of 2009, a second wild chick was born in the Sierra de San Pedro Mártir National Park and was named Inyaa ("Sun" in the Kiliwa language) by local environmentalists.

[119] The first condor to be released was called Poy’-we-son (Yurok for "the one who goes ahead"), followed by Nes-kwe-chokw ("He returns"), Ney-gem’ ‘Ne-chweenkah’ ("She carries our prayers") and ‘Hlow Hoo-let’ ("At last I (or we) fly!").

[124] Lead scientist Myra Finkelstein believes volunteering is fun because it allows enthusiasts to track the "biographies" of individual condors.

"[140] Wilbur concludes that Indians might have contributed to the decline of California condors, "but their impact was minor except in highly localized situations.