Its range includes rocky, open-country scrubland, coniferous forest and oak savanna. Cavities in ledges on cliffs, rocky outcrops or in large trees are used as nest sites (USFWS 1996). It scavenges on the carcasses of large mammals and also feeds on the carcasses of small mammals. California ground squirrels are a documented small mammal food source in California and a source of lead poisoning as they are routinely shot as nuisance animals on private ranges. Investigations into the amount of small mammal use as a food source in the Arizona/Utah population is ongoing (S. Kirkland in litt. 2020). Relative to foraging, released birds reach independence soon after release, and may range more than 400 km from release sites (Anon. 1998), though the distance an individual ranges can vary depending on season and individuals released at different sites have shown significantly different home range sizes (Rivers et al. 2014), suggesting local ecological factors may play a role.

This species declined rapidly throughout its historic range from British Columbia to Baja California during the 19th century and reportedly disappeared from outside California, U.S.A., in 1937 (Wilbur and Kiff 1980, L. Kiff in litt. 2009). The population had dropped to an all-time low of just 22 birds by 1981, and in 1983 eggs were first taken from wild nests for captive-rearing; in 1987 the species became extinct in the wild when the last of the six wild individuals was captured to join a captive-breeding recovery programme involving 27 birds (Wilbur and Kiff 1980, Toops 2009). Due to intensive captive breeding and reintroduction efforts the population increased to 223 birds by August 2003, comprising 138 in captivity, and 85 reintroduced in California and northern Arizona (L. Kiff in litt. 2003). Breeding in the wild resumed in 2002 and now occurs in all wild subpopulations (California, Arizona/Utah and Baja, Mexico).

The sub-population in California comprises 200 wild individuals in two distinct but loosely intermixing flocks. The Southern Californian flock is managed by the USFWS Hopper Mountain National Wildlife Refuge Condor Recovery staff and the Central California flock is managed collectively by the Ventana Wildlife Society and Pinnacles National Park. Each of the California flocks includes approximately 100 free flying individuals as of December 31st 2019 (S. Kirkland in litt. 2020). The Arizona sub-population includes 98 free-flying individuals and there are an additional 39 free-flying individuals in the Baja, Mexico subpopulation. The combined total wild population as of December 2019 stands at 337 with an additional 181 captive individuals, for a total world population of 518. The regular movements of the Arizona birds are mostly confined to Coconnino County (Arizona) and Kane County (Utah), although several individuals have been documented wandering in Wyoming, southwestern Colorado and New Mexico before returning to the Vermilion Cliffs release area (C. N. Parish in litt. 2020). The California birds occur regularly in Ventura, Kern, Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, Monterrey, San Benito, Tulare and Fresno Counties. Currently, range expansion has been documented as far north as Alameda County in the west and Madera County in the east along the foothills of the Central Sierra Nevada Mountains. The species's geographic range continues to expand as the population grows in size (Bakker et al. 2017).

The reintroduction programme continues and has expanded its geographic coverage, with six birds released into the Sierra de San Pedro Martir in Baja California, Mexico in 2002 (USFWS 2002). A release site in Baja was established in October 2003. The first chick hatched in Mexico for over 75 years hatched in April 2007. The Baja California birds are largely confined to the Sierra de San Pedro Martir (L. Kiff in litt. 2006), where release efforts are ongoing to augment the wild population; these birds have continued to expand their range and have reached both the Pacific and Gulf of California coasts (S. Kirkland in litt. 2020). It is hoped these birds will range widely enough to be effectively connected with birds in the southern U.S.A., and a bird from the Baja population was seen in San Diego County in April 2007. Second generation birds have matured to breeding age and wild fledged pairs have now fledged their own chicks into the wild however, no population can be deemed sustainable, and without substantial reductions in the use of lead-based ammunition within the condor's range, none are likely to become so (Finkelstein et al. 2012). The recovery programme for the species continues to address threats to the wild population, but lead contamination remains the greatest of these threats (Finkelstein et al. 2012, Bakker et al. 2017); lead poisoning represents approximately 50 percent of all known causes of death in the total population (S. Kirkland in litt. 2020).

Conservation Actions Underway
CITES Appendix I and II. A large-scale, integrated captive-breeding programme, managed by the Peregrine Fund (at the World Center for Birds of Prey), Los Angeles Zoo, Oregon Zoo, San Diego Wild Animal Park and Chapultepec Zoo, Mexico City, and reintroduction program, managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Ventana Wildlife Society, Peregrine Fund, Pinnacles National Park and Government of Mexico, is maintaining and growing the population in the wild (USFWS 2019). The success of the captive breeding program has seen an increase from one chick hatched in 1988 to approximately 30 birds produced for release to the wild annually. The genetic diversity of the population is maintained through careful distribution and representation of founder genotypes at each captive-breeding facility and reintroduction site. Consequently the current population retains 99.5% of the likely heterozygosity of a wild panmictic population (Ralls and Ballou 2004). 'Aversion training' to avoid power poles appears successful in preventing electrocution from perching on power poles and is ongoing (S. Kirkland in litt. 2020). Condors still periodically collide with powerlines during flight hence California power companies have buried and replaced some above ground power lines with insulated lines in areas with high levels of condor activity; insulated lines protect condors from electrocution following mid-span collision and anecdotally may be more visible to the birds since they are darker and slightly thicker (S. Kirkland in litt. 2020). 

A total of 287 condors were released into the wild between 1992 and 2019 (USFWS 2019, unpublished data). Clean carcasses are provided for reintroduced birds to supplement the food they would otherwise receive from their parents in the wild, and to assist in trapping to replace transmitters, test for lead, and assess general health. Education programs aim to minimise persecution and educate the public about the conservation benefits of using non-lead ammunition for hunting and land management (Hunting with non-lead 2020, North American Non-lead Partnership 2020). However, as the recovery of the species has continued, individuals are now ranging further than when the population was younger and smaller, and are less likely to take the food provided for them after age two (Bakker et al. 2017). A huge step has been taken towards trying to eliminate the threat of lead-poisoning with the signing in 2007 of the Ridley-Tree Condor Preservation Act, and Assembly Bill 711 which requires the use of non-lead ammunition for the taking of all wildlife species throughout the state of California; lead-based ammunition can however, still be used for the putting down of livestock, impacting condors that frequent livestock ranch lands for foraging (A. Brickey in litt. 2020). The effectiveness of these regulatory bans on the survivorship and recovery of the species remains to be seen. Meanwhile, there is a growing program to promote the use of non-lead ammunition in hunting and wildlife management. The Ventana Wildlife Society, Arizona Game and Fish Department and Utah Division of Wildlife Resources are distributing non-lead bullets free of charge to hunters within the foraging range of the condors. In 2008 an agreement was struck between the Tejon Ranch and five conservation organisations in California to preserve 240,000 acres of the 270,000 acre property as an open space in return for not opposing the development of the remaining land, providing a vast amount of foraging habitat for the condor (L. Kiff in litt. 2009). This conservation program has certainly reduced the amount of lead available to condors, as larger and larger percentage of the Southern California flock continue to forage there, however this area only represents approximately 2.5 % of the 9,600,000 acre geographic range this flock occupies. The North American Non-lead Partnership is engaging State Wildlife Management Agencies, to promote the voluntary use of non-lead ammunition as a traditional wildlife management practice that benefits non-target trust wildlife resources by eliminating secondary poisoning from the ingestion of spent lead ammunition.  A willing partnership between hunting and endangered species conservation that facilitates a cultural shift away from hunting with traditional lead ammunition, may be the most practical way a significant reduction in the use of lead ammunition is likely to occur.  


Conservation Actions Proposed
Continue to monitor population trends. Revise the recovery plan using updated population modeling (Bakker et al. 2017) and management information, to determine survivorship and demographic parameters for a self sustaining population of condors. Resume release programme in Mexico and establish new release sites in northern California. Maintain and increase the productivity of the captive population. Continue releases of captive-bred birds. Maintain suitable habitat (USFWS 1996, Anon. 1998).  Continue supplemental feeding as a food source for newly reintroduced birds and to maintain suitable flock behaviors and facilities for population management and maintenance. Continue and expand information and education programmes (USFWS 1996, Anon. 1998, Walters et al. 2010). Continue supplying alternative lead-free ammunition to hunters and ranchers.