Photos: California condor takes flight in wild after near extinction
Three decades after being pushed to the brink of extinction, the California condor is staging an impressive comeback, thanks to intensive efforts to breed them in captivity and ban the use of lead bullets near their feeding grounds.
Return of the Condor
In this Wednesday, June 21, 2017 photo, California condors huddle around a watering hole in the Ventana Wilderness east of Big Sur, Calif. Three decades after being pushed to the brink of extinction, the California condor is staging an impressive comeback, thanks to captive-breeding programs and reduced use of lead ammunition near their feeding grounds. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)
Return of the Condor
In this Wednesday, June 21, 2017 photo, California condors sit perched above an enclosure, where biologists trap them, to conduct research in the Ventana Wilderness east of Big Sur, Calif. Three decades after being pushed to the brink of extinction, the California condor is staging an impressive comeback, thanks to captive-breeding programs and reduced use of lead ammunition near their feeding grounds. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)
Return of the Condor
A California condor sits in the Ventana Wilderness east of Big Sur, Calif., in this June 21, 2017, photo.
Return of the Condor
In this Wednesday, June 21, 2017 photo, a California condor sits perched on a tree branch in the Ventana Wilderness east of Big Sur, Calif. Three decades after being pushed to the brink of extinction, the California condor is staging an impressive comeback, thanks to captive-breeding programs and reduced use of lead ammunition near their feeding grounds. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)
Return of the Condor
In this Wednesday, June 21, 2017 photo, a California condor takes flight in the Ventana Wilderness east of Big Sur, Calif. Three decades after being pushed to the brink of extinction, the California condor is staging an impressive comeback, thanks to captive-breeding programs and reduced use of lead ammunition near their feeding grounds. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)
Return of the Condor
In this Wednesday, June 21, 2017 photo, Ventana Wildlife Society executive director Kelly Sorenson, right, and wildlife biologist Amy List monitor California condors in the Ventana Wilderness east of Big Sur, Calif. Three decades after being pushed to the brink of extinction, the California condor is staging an impressive comeback, thanks to captive-breeding programs and reduced use of lead ammunition near their feeding grounds. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)
Return of the Condor
In this Wednesday, June 21, 2017 photo, Wildlife biologist Amy List observes California condors up close from inside an enclosure in the Ventana Wilderness east of Big Sur, Calif. Three decades after being pushed to the brink of extinction, the California condor is staging an impressive comeback, thanks to captive-breeding programs and reduced use of lead ammunition near their feeding grounds. "If we don't know what they're doing, we don't know what's going wrong," said List. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)
Return of the Condor
In this Wednesday, June 21, 2017 photo, Ventana Wildlife Society executive director Kelly Sorenson poses for a portrait inside a cabin used by researchers to study California condors in the Ventana Wilderness east of Big Sur, Calif. Three decades after being pushed to the brink of extinction, the California condor is staging an impressive comeback, thanks to captive-breeding programs and reduced use of lead ammunition near their feeding grounds. "We're seeing very encouraging results that the condors can become self-sustaining again," said Sorenson. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)
Return of the Condor
In this Wednesday, June 21, 2017 photo, wildlife biologist Amy List shows some led bullets like the ones that kill California condors after the bird eats a contaminated carcass in the Ventana Wilderness east of Big Sur, Calif. Three decades after being pushed to the brink of extinction, the California condor is staging an impressive comeback, thanks to captive-breeding programs and reduced use of lead ammunition near their feeding grounds. "I hope that I'm out of a job soon because condors don't need to be managed in the future," List said. "I hope that they're self-sustaining and wild and free, and nobody needs to trap or tag or monitor them at all." (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)
Return of the Condor
In this Wednesday, June 21, 2017 photo, a California condor takes flight in the Ventana Wilderness east of Big Sur, Calif. Three decades after being pushed to the brink of extinction, the California condor is staging an impressive comeback, thanks to captive-breeding programs and reduced use of lead ammunition near their feeding grounds. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)
Famed for its bald, leathery visage and astonishing wingspan, the majestic California Condor are facing a biological catastrophe they may not be able to overcome: avian flu.
California condors will receive a vaccine for a deadly strain of avian influenza that threatens the already critically endangered vulture species