SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Zion National Park officials say an endangered California condor chick has left the nest and grown wings large enough to fly for the first time in park history.
The southern Utah park said in a social media post last week that a group of visitors saw the baby condor stretch its wings and leave the nest on Sept. 25. Park biologists later confirmed the sighting.
The 4½-month-old chick is Zion's first successful hatchling. At least two chicks have been born at the park, but they have died before they were old enough to fly.
Park rangers have nicknamed the chick "1K" as its birth marked 1,000 condors hatched as part of a population recovery program.
California condors are making a comeback in the wild three decades after nearing the brink of extinction.