Oregon-born condors to be freed near the Grand Canyon

[depakid]

A California condor flies near the Vermilion Cliffs National Monument in northern Arizona in March 2008. Oregon-bred condors have been released at the national monument in the past.
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Four endangered California condors, three of them hatched at the Oregon Zoo, will be freed early next month from their cliff-top pen near the Grand Canyon. If the release goes as planned on March 7, the enormous bald-headed birds will join a northern Arizona flock of 67 free flying condors, including three Oregon-bred birds released last March at Vermilion Cliffs National Monument.

One other Oregon Zoo-hatched condor soars the skies above Pinnacles National Monument in central California. March's release will mark another milestone for the zoo's captive breeding program, which in late 2003 joined the effort to re-build a species that in the 1980s had dwindled to just 22 birds. Today, they number about 325.

The zoo's flock, which has grown to more than 30 birds, has produced 15 eggs; the upcoming nesting season, keeper Kelli Walker said recently, is expected to be the busiest yet. Oregon's condors live at a remote Clackamas County compound that is off-limits to the public in order to retain the birds' wild sensibilities. The wet, woodsy scenery there is a world apart from where the birds released next month will live.

When handlers open the pre-release flight pen atop a 1,000-foot sandstone cliff, the three Oregon birds and one reared at the Peregrine Fund's World Center for Birds of Prey in Boise, will hop out and let the wind lift their black and white wings, which stretch 9 to 10 feet from tip to tip. Once airborne, the wide open, red-rock country of the northern Arizona-Utah border will be theirs to explore.

More: http://www.oregonlive.com/news/index.ssf/2009/02/oregonborn_condor_chicks_to_be.html