How hunters can aid the California condor's comeback

The California condor is the largest flying land bird in North America. What it lacks in looks it makes up for in majesty. Its nine-and-a-half-foot wingspan leaves quite an impression if you're lucky enough to ever see one … or 20.

This scene in Tehachapi last May, when Cinda Michols came home to discover 15-20 condors had descended on her home, would have been unthinkable just three decades ago. Back then, there wasn't a single condor left in the wild.  In the late 1980s, the last few California condors in existence were brought into captivity to save the species from extinction. Since then, the vultures have been bred and slowly reintroduced into the wild. There are now more than 500 total – a number that's still small enough that biologists still number them all.