Condors soar again over Northern California coastal redwoods

REDWOOD NATIONAL PARK, Calif. (AP) — The endangered California condor has returned to the skies over the state’s far northern coast redwood forests for the first time in more than a century. Two captive-bred birds were released Tuesday in Redwood National Park, an hour’s drive south of the Oregon state line. It’s part of a project aimed at restoring the giant vultures to their historic habitat in the Pacific Northwest. Condor once soared over large areas but their numbers were depleted because of hunting, pollution and habitat destruction. A captive-breeding program started in the 1980s has raised the number of condors to about 500. Some are now found in California, Arizona, Utah and Mexico.