The Return of the California Condor

I recently got an early Christmas present which has me spellbound. My sister gave me Condors in Canyon Country by Sophie A. H. Osborn, a stunning book that tells the story of the return of the California Condor to the Grand Canyon Region.

Sophie Osborn was the Field Manager for the Peregrine Fund’s California Condor Restoration Project in Arizona. She has worked with more than a dozen bird species around the world, including condors, peregrine falcons, Hawaiian crows, eagles in Peru, parrots in Guatemala and ducks in Argentina. She is pretty amazing and so is this book.

What others are saying (from Amazon):

Every so often a book comes along that makes you feel good and offers a glimmer of hope for the environment. This is such a book.

For anyone interested in wildlife, birds, and stories of survival….this is the perfect book. It’s an amazing blend of facts about the natural history of the California Condor and the personal accounts of a biologist who dedicated several years of her life ensuring that the condors were successfully reintroduced to their historical range in the Grand Canyon. The photos are spectacular and the writing is absolutely beautiful.

The story itself is captivating, a majestic species on the brink of extinction – in the early 1980s, scientists documented only twenty-two condors in the wild.

Today, thanks to the tireless efforts of those involved with a captive-breeding program, the condor has once again become a free soaring bird over the canyons of the Southwestern US.

Condors in Canyon Country tells the story with a narrative perspective from one of the champions for the species. It’s filled with natural history of these birds, what makes them so incredible. It’s also a very personal story about following this species with care and concern, about disappointment and, ultimately, a shared triumph.

The California Condor is back, it’s population returning in incremental numbers, but the future of the species is still uncertain and humans have a determining role. This book and the resources below are great places to learn about these majestic creatures who were almost lost forever, and what we can do to protect them.

• The California Condor Snatched From the Brink
• Latest Condor News from The Peregrine Fund