Oregon Zoo Sets a Record With 15 California Condor Chicks in One Year
The Oregon Zoo’s breeding center has produced 15 California condor chicks in 2026 — the most in its 23-year history. With the global population of the once near-extinct bird now topping 600, each chick reared for release is a milestone for one of America’s great recovery stories.
AnimalsGNGV Editorial Team5 min read
In 1982, only 22 California condors remained in the wild, and by 1987 every last one had been captured in a desperate gamble to save North America’s largest land bird from vanishing forever. Today, that gamble is paying off in spectacular fashion. The Oregon Zoo announced that its Jonsson Center for Wildlife Conservation has hatched 15 condor chicks in 2026 — the most in the facility’s 23-year history of working to rescue the species.
Ten of the fluffy chicks are now growing up in nest boxes at the Jonsson Center, while five more hatched under the care of partner facilities in Idaho and San Diego. Twelve sets of condor parents are currently tending young at the Oregon center. The chicks will stay with their parents for at least eight months before moving to pre-release pens for roughly a year, where they learn the behaviors they need before eventually being set free at wild release sites in California and Arizona.
Part of the breeding program’s success comes from a clever technique called “double clutching.” By carefully managing eggs, keepers can encourage condors to lay a second egg in a season, effectively doubling the number of chicks a pair can produce in a year. The approach boosts both the population and its genetic diversity — vital for a species that was rebuilt from such a tiny founding group.
The numbers tell a story of patient, decades-long commitment. More than 150 chicks have hatched at the Jonsson Center since 2003, and over 100 Oregon Zoo–reared birds have been released to the wild. Globally, the California condor population now tops 600, with most of those birds flying free over canyons and coastlines. A creature that once teetered on the very edge of extinction is now riding the thermals again — living proof that with enough determination, even the bleakest conservation story can be rewritten.
