Number Nine

I feel really lucky to have had the chance to paint the California condor for the Endangered Ark card deck. ( [link] )

I feel even more lucky to have had the chance to see them in the wild. But most of all, I feel luckiest that I was born in world where thanks to the dedicated efforts of a few determined individuals, I can still drive down the 1 in California and catch a fleeting glimpse of one of the coolest birds to ever grace the skies.

In 1987, there were only 22 Californian condors left in the world. The folks at the San Diego Wild Animal Park and the Los Angeles zoo caught all of the remaining birds in an effort to conserve the species. Through their selective breeding and release program, they have risen the population to 327 birds, over half of which are in the wild today.