TPF California Condor

TPF California Condor Share your photos, videos, sightings, and experiences of California Condors.

The Peregrine Fund raises California Condors at our World Center for Birds of Prey in Boise, Idaho, and since 1996 has released them to the wild in northern Arizona. Help develop a following for these magnificent birds -- the largest flying birds in North America!

Condor Breeding Season Update:Our team went into the 2026 breeding season tracking 13 established pairs in the Arizona–U...
09/04/2026

Condor Breeding Season Update:

Our team went into the 2026 breeding season tracking 13 established pairs in the Arizona–Utah population. Four condor pairs spent the year raising their 2025 fledglings rather than nesting again, a reminder that bringing a young condor to independence can take more than a year.

Among the rest, we believe five condor pairs hatched nestlings. Confirming this is tricky: condors often nest high in cliffside caves that are hard to see into, so we rely on field observations and GPS. When a female settles in to incubate, her solar-powered transmitter goes dark inside the cave, often our first clue a nest is underway.

Not every nestling makes it. Today, our team is closely monitoring three healthy young birds, all expected to fledge this fall: Condors 1440, 1446, and 1453.

Even a strong season comes with real losses. It’s part of what makes each surviving nestling so significant.

Condor nest with Condor 1446 📽️ Julia Schmidt
Condor 1446 as an egg 📷 Tim Hauck
Condor 1446 as nestling 📽️ Julia Schmidt
Condor 1440 outside of cliff nest 📷 Briana Bode
Condor 1440 outside of cliff nest 📽️ Briana Bode
Condor 1453 as nestling 📷 Katherine O’Connell
Condor 1453 as nestling with mother, Condor 731 📽️ Kirsten Fuller

Our limited-edition California Condor Release shirt is here, and this year's design honors the red rock country where th...
09/02/2026

Our limited-edition California Condor Release shirt is here, and this year's design honors the red rock country where the Arizona–Utah flock flies free and 30 years of recovery has unfolded.

Proceeds from every shirt go straight to the California Condor Recovery Program, funding the propagation, monitoring, and fieldwork behind every condor we return to the wild.

The campaign closes October 4, and then it's gone for good. Wear the 30th and fund the next chapter at https://bit.ly/4cyzjgP

📷 Photo by Anne Dixon
👕 Shirt artwork by Conrad Garner

09/01/2026

Meet Condor 123, the oldest bird in our Arizona–Utah flock at 31 years old. 

Hear his story from Tim Hauck, our California Condor Program Director.

📽️ courtesy of Eddie Feltes; Rin O’Connell; Thomas Frauman / Cornell Lab of Ornithology / Macaulay Library; Matthew Danihel; courtesy of Liberty Wildlife; Tim Hauck; Chris Parish
🎵 AtlasAudio / Pixabay

09/01/2026

Meet Condor 123, the oldest bird in our Arizona–Utah flock at 31 years old.

Hear his story from Tim Hauck, our California Condor Program Director.

📽️ courtesy of Eddie Feltes; Rin O'Connell; Thomas Frauman / Cornell Lab of Ornithology / Macaulay Library; Matthew Danihel; courtesy of Liberty Wildlife; Tim Hauck; Chris Parish
🎵 AtlasAudio / Pixabay

Condor Spotlight 🌟 Cuyama, Condor 27Cuyama (California Condor 27) is our oldest captive-breeding bird at 43 years old! H...
08/27/2026

Condor Spotlight 🌟 Cuyama, Condor 27

Cuyama (California Condor 27) is our oldest captive-breeding bird at 43 years old! He hatched in the wild in Spring 1983 and was brought into captivity to the Los Angeles Zoo later that same year to be part of the Recovery Program. In 2003, he was transferred to our breeding facility in Boise, Idaho, and has been with us ever since.

Cuyama (27) has sired 30 offspring and has been a foster parent as well, including helping raise one of our more well-known individuals, Milagra (1221). Captive-breeding birds like him are helping save their own species, and we could not do this without them!

Cuyama (27) with Milagra (1221) 📷 Chelsea Haitz
Photo of Cuyama (27) 📷 Kelsey Tatton

Condor Spotlight 🌟 Condor 1K1K was more than a bird. He was a milestone. He was the first California Condor to fledge fr...
08/20/2026

Condor Spotlight 🌟 Condor 1K

1K was more than a bird. He was a milestone. He was the first California Condor to fledge from a wild nest in Zion National Park in 2019. When biologists tagged him the next spring, his wing read "1K": the 1,000th condor hatched since the recovery program began.

For a species down to just 22 birds in 1982, that number meant everything. He became a symbol of hope. People traveled to Zion in hopes of catching a glimpse of him in the nest. He would eventually fledge and delight visitors while soaring through Zion Canyon on his 9.5-foot wings.

But in March 2024, his transmitter location went still. The team hiked miles into remote canyon country to reach him and confirmed the hardest news. 1K had died, just short of his fifth birthday. His cause of death would later be confirmed as lead poisoning, the most prevalent cause of diagnosed deaths in condors.

His death is the kind that stays with you, because it was preventable. Lead poisoning remains the leading cause of death for California Condors, who can swallow tiny fragments of lead ammunition while feeding on carrion. What makes 1K's story so painful is how common it is.

But it is also why the work goes on. Across the West, hunters and ranchers are choosing lead-free ammunition and giving scavengers a safer place to feed. To learn more about making the switch to lead-free, go to https://www.leadfreepartnership.org.

Condor 1K’s tag after his death 📷 National Park Service
Condor 1K shortly after fledging in 2019 📷 Alan Clampitt
Condor 1K receiving tag in May 2020 📷 Alan Clampitt
Condor 1K release after tagging in May 2020 📷 Alan Clampitt
Condor 1K in flight 📷 Alan Clampitt

You're invited: the 2026 California Condor Release On Saturday, September 26, we'll release four California Condors into...
08/18/2026

You're invited: the 2026 California Condor Release

On Saturday, September 26, we'll release four California Condors into the wild at Vermilion Cliffs National Monument, and you can be there to witness it! Held each year on National Public Lands Day alongside our partners at the Bureau of Land Management, it's a rare chance to watch a condor spread its wings and take its first flight over the red rock.

Planning to join us in person? Here's what to know:
📅 When: Saturday, September 26. Activities begin around 10 a.m., and the release pen opens at 11 a.m. MST (northern Arizona "condor time").
📍Where: Vermilion Cliffs National Monument, Arizona.
🚗 Getting there: Parking is limited, so arrive early and be ready to walk up to a mile to the viewing area. The earlier you come, the shorter the walk.
💵 Bring cash: Our wing-tag raffle and silent auction help fund the condor field program, and internet is limited on-site.
🧢 Pack for the day: binoculars or a spotting scope, plenty of water, sunscreen, a hat, and a chair. The nearest supplies are about 40 minutes away.

Can't make it to Arizona? We'll livestream the release on our YouTube channel so you can celebrate from anywhere.

Full details at https://bit.ly/Condors2026.

Condor 971 📷 Jim Shane

Condor Spotlight 🌟 Shasta, Condor 47All month, we're spotlighting individual condors behind 30 years of recovery. First ...
08/13/2026

Condor Spotlight 🌟 Shasta, Condor 47

All month, we're spotlighting individual condors behind 30 years of recovery. First up is a bird who's been part of this program from the very beginning.

The California Condor Propagation Team and Field Biologists work side-by-side even though we are 700 miles apart, and you truly cannot have one without the other. No one embodies this connection as perfectly as Shasta (Condor 47). Shasta hatched in 1989 at the Los Angeles Zoo and in 1993 was transferred to the World Center for Birds of Prey, becoming one of the founding males that began our condor breeding program. He was paired with a female, Tecuya (Condor 30), and together they had our first successful captive hatch in 1996. Over the years, Shasta has sired and raised many young, contributing significantly to the recovery of his own species.

In 2019, he was transferred down to the release site in Arizona to become one of the primary mentor birds. He has been here ever since, teaching the juvenile birds how to interact with their own kind and build social bonds. These are critical lessons for these young birds to learn if they are to survive in the wild. Shasta has been with The Peregrine Fund since the inception of our branch of the California Condor Recovery Program. We want to take this moment to not only share his story but to also give him credit and our gratitude because we would not be where we are today without him.

Thank you, Shasta!

Shasta (left) with three young condors before release 📷 Jim Shane

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HC 67 Box 3
Marble Canyon, AZ
86036

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+15857475885

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