WHITE SAGE, Ariz. – A trio of some of the most endangered birds in the world were relocated from their home in the Vermillion Cliffs of Arizona due to the White Sage wildfire.
California condors are the largest land birds in North America, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
The White Sage Fire began near White Sage, Arizona, on July 9. The fire quickly spread, forcing the closure of the Kaibab National Forest and several areas nearby.
By Saturday, the fire had spread to 58,639 acres and was 27% contained.
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The White Sage Fire burning in Arizona on July 15.
(Leah Mobley/InciWeb / FOX Weather)
‘We’ve seen this before’
There are roughly 82 GPS-tracked California condors located in the southwest region of the United States, said Tim Hauck, The Peregrine Fund’s California condor program director.
California condors typically relocate themselves and fly north into Utah’s high country during the summer months, so when the White Sage Fire started, the only condors they needed to watch out for were three mentor birds housed on the Vermillion Cliffs.
“We knew that the fire started on the 9th, we’d been monitoring that,” Hauck said.
Hauck said as the fire gained momentum up the Kaibab plateau on July 10, they decided to move the three mentor condors housed in a flight pen on top of the Vermillion Cliffs.
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A California poised on the edge of a cliff over a river.
(Tim Hauck | The Peregrine Fund / FOX Weather)
“We’ve seen this before with the Mangum Fire in 2020,” Hauck said. “They came through that same area.”
Hauck said during the Magnum Fire, they were worried about being able to get the birds out. They didn’t want to have that same concern again with the White Sage Fire.
“We got there early and got them out,” Haucks said of relocating the condors this time.
The condors are now being safely monitored at another facility away from the fire.
‘They’re out of harm’s way,” he said.
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Learn about how California condors thrive at Glen Canyon National Recreation Area in Arizona and Utah. (Courtesy: Glen Canyon National Recreation Area / National Park Service)
Near extinction and breeding program
California condors have been around for thousands of years, dating back to the Pleistocene Era, which ended more than 10,000 years ago.
“It’s a very, very old species of bird,” Hauck said.
Hauck said condors used to be native all across North America, from British Columbia in Canada, all the way down to Mexico.
But by 1940, the condor was restricted to the coastal mountains of southern California, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service reported.
“They were down to just 22 birds left in the world in 1982,” Hauck said. “So that’s how close they came to becoming extinct.”
California Condor in the Utah/Arizona landscape.
(Tim Hauck | The Peregrine Fund / FOX Weather)
Hauck said by 1987, conservations collaborated in a “major effort” to get the condors away from extinction.
“We trapped every single condor in California and brought them into captivity to start a breeding program,” Hauck said.
The California Condor Recovery Program is led by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and is an international multi-entity effort.
In 1992, there were enough condors to start releasing back into the wild. They started in California, and started moving outward from there.
Four years later in 1996, the first California condors were reintroduced to Arizona and Utah, Hauck said.
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California condor population today
Since the breeding program began, many organizations, scientists, zoos and conservationists have maintained an effort to rehabilitate the condor population.
The birds of prey still remain critically endangered, but the condor is heavily protected and closely monitored, Hauck said.
He said the Peregrine Fund works closely with U.S. Fish and Wildlife, Arizona Game and Fish and the Bureau of Land Management to continue the breeding program.
A California condor at flight.
(Tim Hauck | The Peregrine Fund / FOX Weather)
As part of the program, the Peregrine Fund helps release California condors raised in captivity into the wild each year, Hauck said.
“We’re trying to protect this species at all costs,” Hauck said.
Hauck said at the end of 2024, there were a total of 566 condors, with 369 in the wild between Arizona/Utah, California and Baja California, Mexico.
For tips on things you can do to protect the California condor population in the wild, visit the U.S. Fish and WIldlife Service website here.
For more on the Peregrine Fund and their efforts, click here.
