Trivia: What country has the most endangered birds? Indonesia with 126, Brazil is second with 121. In the United States approximately 78 birds are listed as endangered including several California birds: California Condor, California Clapper Rail, California Least Tern, etc... New Zealand is the country with the highest percentage (30%) of its bird species endandered. The California Condor is on the verge of extinction. There were three individuals, all males, known to be living free in late 1986. That was a drop from fifteen wild birds (including five breeding pairs) known to have been present in 1984. Twenty-one condors were also alive in captivity toward the end of 1986. The species is a relic of the ice ages; its preserved remains have been found in the La Brea tar pits. With its giant relative Teratornis mettiami it picked the bones of mammoths and American camels that had expired in the ooze. Teratornis, even bigger than the condor -- its 12-foot wingspread and 50-pound weight making it perhaps the biggest bird ever to take to the air -- died out long before Europeans arrived in North America. By 1492 the condor was already retreating westward. Its bones were discovered in Florida early on, and recently its former presence in upper New York state was confirmed by Richard Laub of the Buffalo Museum of Science and David Stedman of the New York State Museum. When the '49ers were trekking to California, the condor had retired behind the Rockies, and it survived into the 20th century only in California and Baja California. By World War II breeding condors were limited to California's southern Sierra Nevada, the Coast Range behind Santa Barbara, and the east-west ranges (Tehachapi Mountains) that connect the two across the southern end of the San Joaquin Valley. Considerably more than sixty birds were alive then. Since that time, the population has gradually declined. The causes of the condor's plight are several: shooting by hunters, poisoning with bait intended for coyotes, contamination of their food with DDT, other pesticides and lead, egg collecting by unscrupulous oologists, general harassment, food scarcity (mammoths and camels no longer exist in California and numbers of domestic stock are declining), and habitat destruction. Condors do not have vocal cords so they force air through their body to make hissing and grunting noises. Condors defecate on their legs to reduce their core body temperature. This is known as Urohydrosis. Condors are genetically related to storks. Adult condors show their emotion through skin color changes. Condors eat an average of 2-3 pounds at a feeding. It sometimes takes a condor one week to hatch from an egg. Chicks are born with their eyes open. When scared, condors regurgitate (throw up) their stomach contents. Condors do not have talons like eagles or hawks; their nails are more like toenails.
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