California condor Gymnogyps californianus

Identification Tips:

• Length: 45 inches Wingspan: 120 inches
• Sexes similar
• Huge, broad-winged, short-tailed, soaring bird
• Longish, hooked bill
• Holds wings relatively flat while soaring and gliding
• Unfeathered head
• White underwing coverts
• Plumage dark
• Rare and local in the wild

Adult:

• White patch on upper surface of inner wing-visible in flight and at rest
• Reddish to yellowish head
• Subadult simiilar to adult but has more mottling on underwing coverts
• Immatures take several years to reach adult plumage

Immature:

• Head and neck dusky
• Underwing coverts heavily mottled

Similar species:

The California Condor is much larger than any other raptor. At a distance, where its size may not be as apparent, note that the tail is shorter than similarly dark Turkey Vulture, Golden Eagle, and immature Bald Eagle.

Length and wingspan from: Robbins, C.S., Bruun, B., Zim, H.S., (1966). Birds of North America. New York: Western Publishing Company, Inc.