Thirteen eggs and counting at zoo's condor recovery center

For critically endangered California condors, 'every egg is a reason to feel hopeful' 

It’s an egg-citing time at the Oregon Zoo’s Jonsson Center for Wildlife Conservation, where endangered California condors have now laid 13 eggs — with the potential for more on the way.  

“This season is looking very promising so far,” said Kelli Walker, who oversees the zoo’s condor recovery efforts. “Eleven different pairs of adult birds have laid eggs, some for the first time ever.”

According to Walker, the condor pair known as 806 and 603 welcomed their first egg together last month. 

“It’s great to see these two birds lay an egg, and possibly become first-time parents,” Walker said. “With so few condors left in the world, every egg is a reason to feel hopeful.” 

Since mid-January, condors at the Jonsson Center have been laying the groundwork for species recovery one egg at a time. Of the 13 eggs laid so far this year, at least nine are confirmed to be fertile, and more could be on the way. 

Care staff have removed some eggs to incubators, giving certain condors an opportunity to lay a second time. That process, known as “double-clutching,” has helped increase condor numbers and improve genetic diversity in the population. So far, two pairs of birds have double-clutched and laid two eggs each.

“How many eggs the condors lay is up to them,” said Walker. “But we’re doing everything we can do encourage the process.” 

The California condor was one of the original animals included on the 1973 Endangered Species Act and is classified as critically endangered. In 1982, only 22 condors remained in the wild and by 1987, the last of them were brought under human care to save the species from extinction. Thanks to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s California condor recovery program, the population now totals around 560 birds, most of them flying free.

The Oregon Zoo’s recovery efforts take place at the Jonsson Center for Wildlife Conservation, located in rural Clackamas County on Metro-owned open land. The remoteness of the facility minimizes the exposure of young condors to people, increasing their chances to survive and breed in the wild. 

More than 120 chicks have hatched at the Jonsson Center since 2003, and nearly 100 Oregon Zoo-reared birds have gone out to field pens for release. Several eggs laid by Oregon Zoo condors have been placed in wild nests to hatch.