It’s a tiny, newborn chick in a remote area of Ventura County, which isn’t even 24 hours old yet. But, it’s become a huge star on the internet, because it was the first California Condor chick to hatch in the wild during a live webcast.
The chick was born Monday morning in the Hopper Mountain National Wildlife Refuge, in the Los Padres National Forest. The chick has foster parents. After their egg disappeared, a dummy egg was placed in the nest temporarily, and then a captive-bred egg was placed in the nest.
California Condors are on the federally endangered species list. In 1980, a combination of factors reduce their population to less than two dozen, but a captive breeding and re-release program has helped get their numbers back to more than 400.
Link to live condor webcam:
