Book Description
This digital document is an article from Endangered Species Update, published by University of Michigan, School of Natural Resources on July 1, 2003. The length of the article is 1107 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: California condors return to Mexico.
Author: Denise Stockton
Publication: Endangered Species Update (Newsletter)
Date: July 1, 2003
Publisher: University of Michigan, School of Natural Resources
Volume: 20Issue: 4-5Page: S14(2)

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Book Description

As the largest flying bird of North America, and one of the most endangered, the California Condor has been a source of tremendous interest and awe. This book offers up-to-date information on both the biology and conservation of the condor, as analyzed by the two most knowledgeable field biologists to have studied the species. The authors present first a thorough review of the history of condor studies and conservation efforts, then a detailed examination of the biology and recent decline of the species, and finally a hopeful plan for ultimate restoration of the species as a viable member of wild ecosystems. The book is illustrated with over a hundred superb color photographs covering numerous aspects of natural history of the species and recent conservation efforts on its behalf. Conservation of the California Condor has always been highly controversial, and this book does not shrink from controversy. Instead it offers a broad and insightful, but nevertheless sympathetic treatment of the many political conflicts of the past century.

Key Features:

• Reviews historical account of condor biology and conservation
• Analyzes nest site characteristics and limitations
• Studies breeding behavior and analyzes breeding effort and success
• Discusses mortality rates and the causes for their decline and efforts to improve reproduction
• Discusses the techniques, problems, and results of captive breeding and release programs

Customer Reviews (1)

The landmark work on the California condor
Noel and Helen Snyder have done an incredible job, of capturing the history of the condor, its biology and much of the essence of the politics of high-profile endangered species recovery.While this meticulouslyresearched book that will fulfill a scientist's needs for accuracy anddetail, they have managed to relate that information with a personal touchthat provides the lay reader with the sense of the adventure that theauthors are recounting.They have tiptoed through a political mine fieldto bring out the stories and facts so necessarily missed or mis-understoodby the media and distant observors.While many books are available on thecondor, not since Carl Koford's work in the 50's has someone so close tothis species told its story. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Well-written for all ages
I loved this book. Really opened my eyes to the world of Condors. Fascinating! ... Read more

Book Description
California condor populations began to decline when Europeans arrived on the Pacific Coast in the seventeenth century.By the 1980s the surviving handful of condors were removed from the wild and bred in captivity.Since 1992, captive-bred condors have been successfully reintroduced into the wild in California, Arizona, and Mexico. ... Read more

Book Description
This digital document is an article from E, published by Earth Action Network, Inc. on January 1, 2002. The length of the article is 473 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: California condors take flight. (In Brief).(back from the end)(Brief Article)
Author: Chuck Graham
Publication: E (Magazine/Journal)
Date: January 1, 2002
Publisher: Earth Action Network, Inc.
Volume: 13Issue: 1Page: 10(1)

Article Type: Brief Article

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Book Description
Since the end of the last Ice Age, condors have faced the perils of a changing environment, ultimately declining to the very brink of extinction. In a combined effort by zoos and government agencies, biologists are working to resurrect the Californiacondor through a controversial captive breeding and release program. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A Compelling Story
A well-researched and excellent addition to the series.Keep them coming!The author shows an understanding of the many problems confronting the condor and writes in an easy-to-read, well-organized format. Students and adults will find this a compelling story.School libraries will find this book to be a valuable resourcefor science and conservation classes. The reader will be left with the desire to follow the future of the condor with interest. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Beautiful and Poetic, Perhaps to a Fault
I might have given this a 3.5, had I the choice. This book is very pleasing to the eye. The poetic nature of the language may be too much for young readers, but the vocabulary itself is not terribly difficult. A sample:

"Companion of the sun and wind,
friend of the wild mountain silence"

P.S.: my 5 year-old really likes it.

Condor's Egg
This book contains beautiful illustrations. The minimal text is motivational for children who are discouraged by pages filled with words. However,the vocabulary is not easy and is definitely not for a beginning reader without support. Very informational. ... Read more

Book Description
This digital document is an article from Endangered Species Update, published by University of Michigan, School of Natural Resources on July 1, 2001. The length of the article is 2346 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Status of the California Condor and mortality factors affecting recovery. (Raptor Conservation).
Author: Kelly J. Sorenson
Publication: Endangered Species Update (Newsletter)
Date: July 1, 2001
Publisher: University of Michigan, School of Natural Resources
Volume: 18Issue: 4Page: 120(4)

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Book Description
This digital document is an article from Endangered Species Update, published by University of Michigan, School of Natural Resources on March 1, 2002. The length of the article is 811 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Diverse challenges in the Intermountain Region.(Brief Article)
Author: Laura Hudson
Publication: Endangered Species Update (Newsletter)
Date: March 1, 2002
Publisher: University of Michigan, School of Natural Resources
Volume: 19Issue: 2Page: S14(2)

Article Type: Brief Article

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Book Description
This digital document is an article from Endangered Species Update, published by University of Michigan, School of Natural Resources on May 1, 2001. The length of the article is 1013 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Wind In Their Wings: The Condor Recovery Program.
Author: Joanna Behrens
Publication: Endangered Species Update (Newsletter)
Date: May 1, 2001
Publisher: University of Michigan, School of Natural Resources
Volume: 18Issue: 3Page: S8

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Customer Reviews (7)

I could hardly put it down
I picked up the 2006 edition of this book and enjoyed it thoroughly from cover to cover. I was a little put off at the start by how "the bird gets into your head". It sounded a little banal, and gave me concern that the book would be full of heavy-handed cliches, but the book immediately took off and kept soaring to the end. A great, engrossing read. It appears to be very thoroughly researched to boot. Just a few typos, though, which I expect were fixed in the 2007 ed.

A Near Death Experience
If cats have nine lives, then the California condor as a species must be their equal. These birds have stepped to the edge of the extinction cliff and ALMOST fallen to a crushing collapse. After reading their story, you have to wonder if the creator was playing a cruel joke on this ancient and giant bird.First, with the exception of the huge black body and their graceful soaring, they aren't what you would call "easy on the eyes."They have a number of disgusting habits, and to top it off, they settled on Southern California as home (i.e., this place is being consumed by development at an alarming rate).

Condors to the Brink and Back - covers this bird's life history all the way to the release of zoo raised birds into the wilds of California and Arizona.With each chapter that John Nielsen writes in their life history I felt like, "Okay, this is it.These birds aren't going to survive this one."In the end, the species (read: humans) which puts them against the ropes, is ultimately the same species which comes to their rescue.Nielsen introduces all the key players in what at times resembles a less-than-unified effort to save the mighty condor.

Nearing the end of the book, what becomes apparent is man's role as the crutch the fragile condor must lean against to survive.As more condors raised in captivity are released into the wild, their dependency on wildlife biologists and zoo care-takers can begin to crumble.Encouraging news about California condors breeding and fledging new birds in their natural habitat is happening with greater frequency and spreading over a wider range including Mexico.

Their longer term survival looks brighter and brighter.But some of the threats that put these birds on the brink of collapse are still present today in the form of lead pellets and bullets in downed game which the condors ingest and the ever shrinking range land which they inhabit.For the time being, we have the California condor back to grace our skies,and play an important role as one of nature's big body snatchers.

Everything Condor
This is a really interesting book.Nielsen writes very well, and with an evident passion arising from his boyhood experiences with condors in southern California.Nielsen tells the story of the condor, what little we know of its history before the nineteenth century, the slaughter of the birds and the stealing of its eggs, and finally the sometimes comical efforts to save this profound species from extinction.The book is equally appealing to readers who are simply seeking a good story, and to those who are involved in other kinds of environmental protection efforts.

One particular part of the story surprised me.Nielsen interviewed Sandy Wilbur, the government biologist charged with developing a plan to save the condor immediately after the Endangered Species Act became law in 1973.According to Nielsen, Wilbur became a Christian after reading a book by C.S. Lewis, and it was his Christian beliefs that influenced his desire to preserve the condor.Wilbur believed that the condor was special because it was created by God, even though the bird had long outlived its evolutionary significance and was not necessary for any current ecosystem.This is a different kind of motivation for saving biodiversity, and the story is a nice complement to the many other individuals who have struggled to save such a memorable bird.

How one large bird journeyed to the very edge of extinction and came back makes for an exciting story
How one large bird journeyed to the very edge of extinction and came back makes for an exciting story: especially when related by a NPR environmental correspondent as in CONDOR; TO THE BRINK AND BACK - THE LIFE AND TIMES OF ONE GIANT BIRD. Here is where passionate reporting blends best with science, producing a moving story of how a small group of committed people refused to allow the condor to become extinct, joining forces to gather the last remaining wild condors to a pair of zoos where they were encouraged to breed with other captives. John Nielsen is a native Californian as well as an environmental writer, so he's in the perfect position to provide a survey of both California environmental politics and processes and natural history in this compelling account.

Diane C. Donovan, Editor
California Bookwatch

Informative and a lot of fun to read
John Nielsen has clearly done his homework when it comes to understanding the fascinating history of the California Condor.He not only takes us through the natural history of condors from the Pleistocene to the present, he also introduces us to the remarkable cast of characters who have worked diligently for almost a century to prevent this species from disappearing.Written in an easy, engaging style, "Condor" combines ecology, history, and gossip to create a vivid picture of the challenges involved in saving a species that was more at home in the age of the mammoths than in the age of McMansions. ... Read more