For the first time in almost a hundred years, a California Condor is flying over San Diego County. The young female crossed into the United States from Mexico earlier this week. She's the first to fly across the border since condors were re-introduced to Mexico in 2002. KPBS Radio's Andrea Hsu has more.
Mike Wallace of the Zoological Society of San Diego is tracking the condor -- through GPS. He's been working on condor recovery for 28 years. He originally thought one of the older of the eleven condors in the Baja population would be the first to cross, but to his surprise, it was a three-year-old that was originally hatched at the Wild Animal Park.
Wallace : To have her on her own doing this, it's a little out of the ordinary and pretty exciting.
Normally, taking a condor across the border requires complicated permits. So Wallace says -- his first call upon hearing the news was to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, to say:
Wallace : I think our program is in violation, we've got a bird illegally in the United States.
He says, though, that the hope is the condor will fly home. In the meantime, anyone who spots her is asked to report the sighting to the Wild Animal Park.
For KPBS, I'm Andrea Hsu.
