Condor Updates

In 1982 there were only 22 California Condors left in the world. In 1992, when the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), with its public and private partners, began reintroducing captive-bred condors to the wild. In 2001 the first wild nesting occurred in Grand Canyon National Park since re-introduction. In 2002 there were only 8 pairs of wild nesting birds population-wide. In 2008, for the first time since the program began, more California condors were flying free in the wild than in captivity. Today there are nearly 500 – more than half of them flying free in Arizona, Utah, California, and Baja Mexico.

The National Park Service has been providing updates from the field on the condor population since 2008. To identify tagged individuals see CondorSpotter. For more information on what's going on in our subpopulation our most recent condor update (or see our older updates below) or visit some of our partner's websites: USFWS Condor Program or The Peregrine Fund Condor Program. For specific questions please email the park wildlife biologist.

Wisher, C., D. Espericueta, and M. Terwilliger. 2019. The California condor (Gymnogyps californianus) monitoring program at Grand Canyon National Park: 2016–2018 annual report. Natural Resource Report NPS/GRCA/NRR—2019/1958. National Park Service, Fort Collins, Colorado