PAICINES, Calif. (AP) – A California condor chick has hatched in the wild, survived and flown out of its nest at Pinnacles National Park for the first time since the 1890s, officials said Wednesday.
The Santa Cruz Sentinel (http://bit.ly/2edTCWs ) reports the female bird, born in April, is not the first chick to be born in the park. But it is the first to survive long enough to leave the nest and begin its flight to adulthood.
“She is staying near the nest, doing lot of practice flights,” said Rachel Wolstenholme, condor program manager at Pinnacles. “Her parents will help her learn how to fly and where to feed and how to interact with the other wild birds out there.”
Pinnacles is a 26,000-acre park in rural San Benito County about 80 miles south of San Jose.
Scientists say it’s a success story for North America’s largest bird as it continues a slow but steady path from near extinction.