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Andean Condor
is the largest flying bird with a wing span of
up to 3.5 meters.
It stands up to 1 meter and weighs up to 12
kg. Its plumage is black with white feathers on the upper wings and
a white thick ruff around its lower neck. The male bird, which is
somewhat bigger than the female has also a fleshy comb on its
forehead and a pale red face. Its majestic proportions and elegance while in the air, gave it
its nickname King of the Andes. The bird was venerated by pre-Colombian
cultures and is nowadays the national bird of Ecuador.
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Ecuador, this majestic bird can be found in high and more remote
paramo regions of the Andes like around Cayambe and Antisana
volcanoes. Most often it is observed soaring high in the air or
with luck at a feeding site where more condors might gather. |
Female Andean Condor (Baņos
Zoo)
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Condors are found in high Andean mountain regions where they look
for dead animals to feed on. Being vultures they feed almost entirely on
carrion but in rare cases when hungry, they may attack sick or newborn
animals. Otherwise they lack the ability to grab living animals with
their claws as do eagles. Condors are monogamous birds living together
with its partner their whole life. Once a year the female lays one
egg in a nest along rock ledges. After an incubation time of 58 days, the chick
hatches and stays then with its parents till it learns
to fly and feed itself.
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The condor is very much in danger of disappearing from Ecuador with
no more than 100 birds are believed to be still living in the country.
To the north, in Colombia and Venezuela, this grand vulture
is already on the verge of extinction. Only to the south in Peru,
Bolivia and Chile are their numbers still sufficient but even there
it is under great pressure as more and more of its habitat is
destroyed. This grand bird is also hunted by sportsmen
for trophy and by rural people for its meat and plumage and also for
rewards put out by ranchers, who pay for fear of losing their
precious cattle. Lots of damage to the population is also done by
poisoning of carcasses, which are put out to be fed on by them.
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Male head with distinct comb
(Baņos Zoo)
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I hope, the Andean Condor does not go the way of its cousin, the
California Condor (Gymnogyps californianus) in the United States.
Only a few of those condors were left in 1988 and those were then
captured to be bred in captivity to be able to raise sufficient numbers
again for release into the wild.
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Aves
Condor
Hummingbirds
Macaws
Toucans
King
Vulture
Hoatzin
Caracara
Cock-of-the-rock
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