1st condor in nearly a century soars over San Diego County

It’s been a heady few days for scientists involved in the complex effort to restore the California condor to its once native habitat.

To begin with, researchers spotted the first California condor egg laid in Baja California since condors were reintroduced into the Sierra San Pedro de Martir National Park in 2002.

And now, a condor known as No. 321 was tracked flying across the Mexican border near Jacumba and then continuing to the Anza-Borrego area. The sighting, announced Thursday, was the first of a California condor in San Diego County since 1910.

The bird, outfitted with a tiny global positioning device, was hatched at the San Diego Zoo’s Wild Animal Park and released into the wilds of Mexico in 2005. The once plentiful California condor disappeared from Mexico in the late 1930s.

The effort to bring back the condor, which has suffered its share of disappointments, is a joint effort by wildlife specialists on both sides of the border. As such, binational joy reigned first because of the egg and then the flight of condor No. 321.

“The reintroduction of the California condor in Mexico is a story of success,” said Adrian Fernandez Bremauntz, president of Mexico’s Instituto de Ecologia.

“This is a momentous occasion,” said Mike Wallace, condor project leader and scientist with the San Diego Zoo’s center for Conservation and Research for Endangered Species.

Researchers had thought that condors No. 217, a female, and No. 261, a male, were in a breeding mood. “We had been suspicious of nesting activity over the past month,” Wallace said. The female had been hatched at the Los Angeles Zoo and released into the wild.

After scaling a 75-foot cliff, Wallace found a nest and an egg. Although initial indications are that the egg is fertile, it will remain unclear for days whether a tiny condor will emerge, scientists said.

Now that No. 321 has apparently migrated north, 10 condors remain in Mexico. Five more are slated to be released next month.

The California condor, with its 9-foot wingspan, is the largest bird in North America. Along with its size, the bird is known for the white triangle across the middle of the wings.

tony.perry@latimes.com