ROAD TO RECOVERY C(cid:2)(cid:3)(cid:4)(cid:5)(cid:6)(cid:7)(cid:8)(cid:4)(cid:2) C(cid:6)(cid:8)(cid:9)(cid:6)(cid:7) 21st Century Skills Library ROAD TO RECOVERY California Condor Susan H. Gray Cher r y Lake Publishing Ann Ar bor, Michigan Published in the United States of America by Cherry Lake Publishing Ann Arbor, Michigan www.cherrylakepublishing.com Content Adviser: Kathy Sullivan, Condor Coordinator, Arizona Game and Fish Department Photo Credits: Cover and page 1, ©Rick & Nora Bowers/Alamy; pages 4 and 12, ©Charles Melton/Alamy; page 6, ©Papilio/Alamy; page 8, ©AlanHaynes.com/Alamy; pages 10 and 28, ©Condor 36, used under license from Shutterstock, Inc.; page 14, ©Pixel 8/Alamy; page 17, ©AP Photo/Ben Margot, Pool; page 18, ©AP Photo/Los Angeles Zoo; page 20, ©Stock Connection Distribution/Alamy; page 22, ©iStockphoto. com/xelf; page 25, ©AP Photo/San Diego Wild Animal Park; page 26, ©Kim Worrell, used under license from Shutterstock, Inc. Map by XNR Productions Inc. Copyright ©2009 by Cherry Lake Publishing All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means without written permission from the publisher. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Gray, Susan H. California condor / Susan H. Gray. p. cm.—(Road to recovery) ISBN-13: 978-1-60279-318-7 ISBN-10: 1-60279-318-2 1. California condor—Juvenile literature. I. Title. II. Series. QL696.C53G73 2009 598.9'2—dc22 2008024228 Cherry Lake Publishing would like to acknowledge the work of The Partnership for 21st Century Skills. Please visit www.21stcenturyskills.org for more information. Table of Contents C H A P T E R O N E A Long Wait 4 C H A P T E R T W O The Condor’s Life 6 C H A P T E R T H R E E The Disappearing Condor 12 C H A P T E R F O U R Signs of Hope 17 C H A P T E R F I V E Some Good News 25 Map 29 Glossary 30 For More Information 31 Index 32 About the Author 32 CHAPTER ONE A Long Wait Condors choose nesting sites that are safe from predators and severe weather. A cave in a cliff is one common location. I t is day 56 for the pair of California condors (Gymnogyps californianus). Exactly 8 weeks ago, the female laid 1 large, pale blue-green egg. Since then, she and her mate have taken turns keeping it warm. On stormy days, they both remained at the nest. On clear, bright days, one always 4 21st CENTURY SKILLS LIBRARY earning stayed with the egg while the other flew I & nnovation out alone to search for food. Skills Unlike many other Suddenly, they hear a faint pecking birds, condor pairs do not build a nest sound coming from the egg. The pecking together. Instead, they stops for a moment, then starts up again. select a cavity in the side of a cliff or rocky This continues all day, through the mountain. Such a spot is safe from most night, and into the next day. Pecking. predators. Not just any cavity will do. The Silence. Pecking. Silence. The condors nesting cavity must have a level floor and stay with their egg, keeping it warm and plenty of space for the adults and their young. safe. Finally, a light gray, featherless head The birds do not add leaves or twigs to their pokes through a crack in the shell. A home, and the female lays her egg right on condor chick is ready to face the world. the floor. Why do you think it’s important for the floor to be level? ROAD TO RECOVERY: California Condor 5 CHAPTER TWO The Condor’s Life Condors have no feathers on their heads and necks. T he California condor is the largest North American bird. Adults weigh up to 22 pounds (10 kilograms) and have a wingspan of up to 9.5 feet (2.9 meters). Except for a few places on its body, an adult condor is covered with black feathers. There are triangular patches of white feathers on the underside of its wings. The head and 6 21st CENTURY SKILLS LIBRARY neck are completely featherless, and earning I & nnovation they are covered with pink, yellow, or Skills When birds swallow their orange skin. food, it goes into a chamber Between January and April, females in the throat called the crop. There, it is moistened and lay a single large egg. For the next 8 softened. Next, the food moves on to other digestive weeks, the parents take turns keeping organs that break it down into smaller and smaller the egg warm. Finally, the baby condor pieces. Birds such as the condor will often keep food begins to peck its way free. Hatching is in their crops. They store it there while they fly back slow and may take up to a week. to their nests. At the nest, they regurgitate the food The adult birds share the job of for their young to eat. Birds that do this are feeding their chick. One parent remains often those that forage at the nest while the other parent flies over great distances. By storing food in the crop, off in search of food. Parents do not these birds do not have to carry it in their beaks. Can return to the nest with food in their you think of some other advantages to storing food beaks. Instead, they swallow the food in the crop while flying? and fly back to the nest. Then they regurgitate the food for their young. ROAD TO RECOVERY: California Condor 7 Young condors have dark heads. Their heads become lighter when they are 3 to 4 years old. A condor chick begins to explore when it is about 2 or 3 months old. It makes short trips, hopping around the nesting area. The young bird begins to fly when it is 6 or 7 months old. But it doesn’t leave the nesting cavity for good. It will remain close to home for about 1 year. Female birds lay 1 egg every 2 years. That leaves the parents free to care for each chick for a long period of time. 8 21st CENTURY SKILLS LIBRARY