Egg-citing news! Oregon Zoo’s endangered California condors lay 13 eggs, more to come

Published 12:00 pm Tuesday, March 11, 2025

The condors are having a shell of a time at the Oregon Zoo’s Jonsson Center for Wildlife Conservation. 

On Tuesday, March 11, the Oregon Zoo reached a headcount of 13 eggs from its endangered California condors, with the potential for more. 

“This season is looking very promising so far,” Kelli Walker, who oversees the zoo’s condor recovery efforts, said in a news release. “Eleven different pairs of adult birds have laid eggs, some for the first time ever.”

It’s hopeful to say it’ll be 13 going on 30. 

The condor pair known as 806 and 603 welcomed their first egg together in February. 

“It’s great to see these two birds lay an egg, and possibly become first-time parents,” Walker said. “With so few condors left in the world, every egg is a reason to feel hopeful.”

According to the zoo, of the 13 eggs laid so far this year, at least nine are confirmed to be fertile, and more could arrive in the coming weeks. 

Some eggs have been removed and put in incubators, giving condors the opportunity to lay a second time, which is a process known as double-clutching. According to the zoo, this has helped increase condor numbers and improve genetic diversity in the population. 

Two pairs of birds have double-clutched and laid two eggs each. 

“How many eggs the condors lay is up to them,” said Walker. “But we’re doing everything we can do encourage the process.”

The California condo was one of the original animals included on the 1973 Endangered Species Act and is classified as critically endangered. 

In 1982, only 22 condors remained in the wild and by 1987, the last of them were brought under human care to save the species from extinction, according to the zoo. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s California condor recovery program helped increase the population, which now totals around 560 birds, with most of them flying free.

More than 120 chicks have hatched at the Jonsson Center since 2003, and nearly 100 Oregon Zoo-reared birds have gone out to field pens for release. Several eggs laid by Oregon Zoo condors have been placed in wild nests to hatch.