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California Condor
[Gymnogyps californianus]
[Length 46 in. Wingspan 109 in.]
The California Condor once ranged throughout the mountains and foothills of the western United States, extreme southwestern Canada, and northwestern Mexico.
Its numbers were severely reduced until only 18 remained in the wild by the early 1980's.
These were captured and used for a captive breeding program along with offspring of eggs taken earlier from Condor nests.
Small numbers of California Condors were recently reintroduced into their former range in southern California and also the Vermilion Cliffs area to the north of the Grand Canyon in Arizona.
This California Condor was photographed in 1983 from the Valle Vista Condor Lookout in the Los Padres National Forest in southern California, USA.
It was one of six seen that day, which represented one third of the remaining wild population of 18 at that time.
Photo taken with a Nikkor 300mm f4.5 ED lens on Kodachrome 64 film.
(Date: August 1983)
(use image name "condor" for inquiries)
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