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Animal Themes
Endangered Animals Theme Unit
Birds

California Condors

California Condors
Reading Level
     edHelper's suggested reading level:   grades 4 to 8
     Flesch-Kincaid grade level:   10.1

Vocabulary
     challenging words:    although, honorary, altitude, bypass, captivity, dark-colored, drying, reintroduced, wingspan, despite, naturally, directly, tragedy, hence, title, species
     content words:    North American, Since California, Once California, North America, Wildlife Service, California Condor Recovery Program

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Other Languages
     Spanish: Los Cóndores de California

California Condors   
1     Although the California condor conceded the honorary title of national bird of the U.S.A. to its cousin, the bald eagle, it owns one record to which neither the bald eagle nor any other North American bird can lay claim. That record is its size. Measuring up to 4.6 feet in body length, 9.5 feet in wingspan, and 25 pounds in weight, the California condor is North America's largest flying bird!
 
2     California condors seem to have a strange sense of style that gets worse as they grow. When they just hatch from eggs, they have off-white down feathers on their pinkish-orange skin. Then, they become dark-colored. Once they enter adulthood at about the age of 5, they have no feathers covering their yellowish-red heads, wear black ruffs (rings of feathers) around their necks, and put on black outfits with large patches of white feathers on the underside.
 
3     California condors are superb flyers. As they soar on warm thermal updrafts for hours, reaching a top speed of 55 miles per hour and an altitude of 15,000 feet, they use their acute vision to scan the ground below for food. Since California condors are vultures, they lack powerful feet and sharp claws (talons) to catch live prey. Hence, when they glide gracefully across the sky, they are mainly searching for animal corpses -- preferably those of large mammals like cattle and deer. Once California condors spot a potential meal, they swoop down to enjoy the feast. They store extra food in their crops (pouch-like enlargements below their throats), so they can bring it back to feed the young or go without searching for food for the next few days.

Paragraphs 4 to 7:
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