California Condor

North America's Largest Bird

The California condor is the largest flying bird in North America, with a wingspan that can reach 9.5 feet. In the air they are unmistakable: enormous, black, and remarkably steady, riding thermal updrafts along the canyon walls with barely a wingbeat. Look for the numbered wing tags biologists use to track individual birds.

Back From 22 Birds

By 1982 only 22 California condors remained on the entire planet. A last-ditch captive breeding program brought them back from the very edge of extinction, and condors have nested in the Zion area since the early 2000s. In 2019, the 1,000th chick hatched in the recovery program - fittingly, one of the milestone nests was right here in the canyon country of southern Utah.

Lead Poisoning: The Ongoing Threat

The condor's recovery is real but fragile. Lead poisoning - from fragments of spent ammunition in carcasses the birds scavenge - remains the leading cause of condor deaths. If you spot a tagged condor that appears lethargic or ill, note the tag number and report it to a park ranger. It can genuinely help save a bird.

Where & When to See Condors

Watch the skies over Angels Landing and Big Bend, and along Kolob Terrace Road near Lava Point. Condors ride midday thermals, so late morning through afternoon - when the rock has warmed and the updrafts build - is prime time. Bring binoculars; a condor is often first noticed as an impossibly large silhouette high on the canyon rim.