Saving the California Condor

Published February 3, 2006 at 6:00 PM EST

The California condor is an impressive and ugly bird — with a bald, leathery head, red eyes and a big, razor-sharp beak. It's the largest living thing flying over North America — with a nearly 10-foot wingspan.

The condor nearly went extinct. Its numbers dwindled to just 22 birds in the wild by the 1980s. So all the wild birds were trapped and sent to zoos for breeding programs.

As a result, more than 140 condors have been released to the wild, wearing numbered ID tags and radio transmitters so researchers can track their movements.

Melissa Block talks to NPR science correspondent John Nielsen about his new book, Condor: To the Brink and Back — The Life and Times of One Giant Bird.

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SOMOS CONNECTICUT is an initiative from Connecticut Public, the state’s local NPR and PBS station, to elevate Latino stories and expand programming that uplifts and informs our Latino communities. Visit CTPublic.org/latino for more stories and resources. For updates, sign up for the SOMOS CONNECTICUT newsletter at ctpublic.org/newsletters.

SOMOS CONNECTICUT es una iniciativa de Connecticut Public, la emisora local de NPR y PBS del estado, que busca elevar nuestras historias latinas y expandir programación que alza y informa nuestras comunidades latinas locales. Visita CTPublic.org/latino para más reportajes y recursos. Para noticias, suscríbase a nuestro boletín informativo en ctpublic.org/newsletters.

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