Clackamas County, United States – This year’s condor hatching season at the Oregon Zoo’s Jonsson Center for Wildlife Conservation has ended with a major success: eleven healthy California condor chicks.

Nine chicks are currently being raised at the Jonsson Center, while two additional chicks hatched under adoptive condor parents at The Peregrine Fund’s World Center for Birds of Prey in Boise, Idaho.

“This year’s recovery effort goes to 11,” said specialists at the Oregon Zoo.

“With so few California condors left in the world, each new arrival is vitally important,” said Kelli Walker, senior condor keeper at the zoo. “These young birds are already stretching their wings and preparing to be free-flying wild condors.”

The chicks will remain with their parents for at least eight months. After that, they will spend about a year in pre-release pens before being moved to wild release sites in California and Arizona.

The California condor is classified as critically endangered. In 1982, only 22 remained in the wild. By 1987, all were brought into human care in a final attempt to prevent extinction.

The global population has now grown to about 560 birds, with the majority flying free, thanks to recovery programs like the one at the Oregon Zoo.

The Jonsson Center is located on Metro-owned land in rural Clackamas County. Its remote setting limits human contact with the birds, improving their survival chances in the wild.

More than 140 condor chicks have hatched at the center since 2003. Over 100 of those birds have moved into field pens for release, and several eggs have been placed into wild nests to hatch.

Support for upgrades and equipment at the facility has come from Oregon Senators Merkley and Wyden, the Avangrid Foundation, and donations to the Oregon Zoo Foundation.

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