Species profile
Gymnogyps californianus
California condor
This is a curated published estimate, not a live census. Estimates may refer to mature individuals, wild individuals or a documented range and are not directly comparable between species.
CR · Critically Endangered — Critically Endangered — extreme risk of extinction in the wild
About this species
California condor (Gymnogyps californianus) is part of the curated SpeciesWatch catalogue and is classified as Critically Endangered. Every California condor alive today descends from just 22 birds captured in the 1980s, when the species was reduced to a handful — one of the boldest rescues in conservation history. Its recorded population direction is increasing. That is encouraging, but it does not remove continuing pressures or make every population secure.
Habitat, behaviour and ecological role
This profile associates the species with terrestrial, mountain. These labels summarise environments used during different stages of its life rather than drawing an exact range boundary. With a wingspan of up to 3 m, it is North America's largest land bird, and it can soar at 150 km/h riding thermals for hours. Its anatomy and behaviour are responses to those environments, while movement can connect distant places requiring different forms of management.
Why this species is at risk
Condors can live 60 years or more, and each bird is individually numbered and monitored — many wear GPS transmitters that alert rangers to lead-poisoning risks. The catalogue records 2 principal pressures for this profile: Lead poisoning, Microtrash ingestion. They should not be treated as isolated causes. Habitat change, exploitation, pollution, disease and climate stress can reinforce one another, while the importance of each pressure varies between regions and through time.
Conservation outlook
Direct protection needs to combine enforcement with conflict prevention, demand reduction and local benefits that make coexistence viable. Actions need long-term monitoring and revision as evidence changes; a positive intervention in one place does not by itself represent recovery across the species.
Editorial review: 2026-08-21
Threat factors
Known occurrences
Dots are georeferenced occurrence records from OBIS (marine) and GBIF (global), not individual animals and not a complete range map. Up to 500 recent API results are cached; the profile renders at most 500 points.
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