Clackamas County, Oregon – A dozen California condor chicks are developing strong flight feathers at the Oregon Zoo’s Jonsson Center for Wildlife Conservation, with some of the young birds already taking short flights outside.

“They’re not full-fledged condors yet,” said Nicole LaGreco, who oversees the zoo’s condor recovery efforts. “But they’ll be feathered and flying on their own soon enough, getting ready to soar off into the wild.”

The first chick left its nest box last month, while the remaining 11 are following closely behind by hopping and flapping. The young condors hatched earlier this year and stay with their parents for at least eight months before spending about a year in large outdoor pre-release pens.

Nine condors from last year’s group left the conservation center earlier this month for wild release sites in California and Arizona, where they will eventually join free-flying condors.

The California condor was among the original animals included in the 1973 Endangered Species Act and is classified as critically endangered. Only 22 remained in the wild in 1982, and by 1987 the last condors were brought into human care to help save the species from extinction.

Recovery programs have since helped bring the world’s California condor population to more than 600 birds, most of which are flying free.

The remote Jonsson Center in rural Clackamas County limits young condors’ exposure to people, increasing their chances of surviving and breeding in the wild.

More than 150 chicks have hatched at the center since 2003, while more than 100 Oregon Zoo-reared birds have gone to field pens for release. Several eggs laid by Oregon Zoo condors have also been placed in wild nests to hatch.

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