California condor chick is 5th found in Southwest in 2019

GRAND CANYON NATIONAL PARK, Ariz. (AP) - Wildlife biologists say a record number of wild California condor chicks have been documented this year in the U.S. Southwest with the discovery earlier this month of No. 5, a nestling found in Grand Canyon National Park.

Biologist Miranda Terwilliger, Grand Canyon’s condor project manager, says volunteer Bob George found the chick in a nest Oct. 10. She estimated Wednesday the chick hatched five months before it was discovered.

There are four population areas for the birds in the wild: Arizona and Utah, Southern California, central California and Baja California, Mexico.

There were only 22 California condors left in the world in the 1980s, but after a recovery effort to save the species there are now 312 of the birds in the wild.