The California condor is the largest North American land bird. It almost went extinct in 1987 when the government captured all 22 of the remaining condors in the wild. These surviving birds were bred at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park and the Los Angeles Zoo. In 1991, condors were reintroduced into the wild. The California condor is one of the world’s rarest bird species: as of October 2014 there are 425 condors.
This photo was taken along at mile marker on the Hudson Ranch Road about 9 and a half miles south east of Maricopa, California. At the base of the drop off to the east is the San Andreas fault. The bend in the fault is the cause of the uplifted mountain. The uplift creates upward thermal air currents that the condors like.
As I was taking the photo a condor flew about 20 ft. above my head, in quick succession we saw three condors in total.