Down to as few as 23 birds in the early 1980s, the endangered California Condor has reached a new milestone of 400 birds in existence. A little more than half of them are flying free over California, Oregon and Arizona -- while the others are in captive protection. While the population is growing, it continues to face a number of threats, the largest of which is poisoning from lead ammunition left behind in animal carcasses in the field. Audubon California helped pass a ban on the use of lead ammunition in the range of the Condor in California, but the issue persists. (photo by Frier/USFWS)
By Garrison Frost
May 21, 2012
HOTSPOT: Flyover of California's Birds and Biodiversity
California is a global biodiversity hotspots, with one of the greatest concentrations of living species on Earth.
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