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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 55 / Wednesday, March 24, 2021 / Rules and Regulations
System or the National Wildlife Refuge System will be treated for purposes of section 7 other than paragraph a1
thereof as a species proposed to be listed under the Act as a threatened species. 50 CFR 17.83a.
Any experimental population designated for a listed species that either 1 has been determined to be essential to the survival of that species or 2 occurs within the National Park System or the National Wildlife Refuge System as now or hereafter constituted will be treated for purposes of section 7
of the Act as a threatened species.
Notwithstanding the foregoing, any biological opinion prepared pursuant to section 7b of the Act and any agency determination made pursuant to section 7a of the Act will consider any experimental and nonexperimental populations to constitute a single listed species for the purposes of conducting the analyses under such sections. 50
CFR 17.83b.

CDFW to evaluate the final rule, and exempt take associated with the rule if the Director finds the Services final rule would further the conservation of the species.
If we are compelled, through court order or other means, to change the California condors NEP status to essential, threatened, or endangered, FWS would meet with the parties to the 2016 MOU to discuss options on how to proceed, including the option of attempting to capture and relocate all condors in the wild within the NEP. We would make a fact-specific assessment of how to proceed based on the information at that time, including whether there was general agreement from the MOU partners that the condors should remain in the wild. Changes in the legal status and/or removal of this population of California condors will be made in compliance with any applicable Federal rulemaking and other procedures.

By the time individuals are 5 or 6 years of age, they are essentially indistinguishable from adults, but full development of the adult wing patterns may not be completed until 7 or 8 years of age Snyder and Snyder 2000, pp. 15, 17; Finkelstein et al. 2015, Appearance.
As obligate scavengers i.e., relying entirely on dead animals for food, California condors have a number of physical and physiological adaptations that accommodate their highly specialized diet, including: 1 Large size, which is important for maintaining low-energy soaring flight, and enduring long periods without food; 2 excellent eyesight, which helps condors efficiently find food; 3 hooked bills and long necks, which allow condors to access muscle tissue deep within a carcass and to rip pieces of meat from a carcass; and 4 resistance to bacterial toxins, which is necessary for species that rely on carcasses Snyder and Snyder 2005, pp. 731.

Legal Status We listed the California condor as an endangered species under the Endangered Species Preservation Act of 1966 ESPA on March 11, 1967 32 FR
4001, March 11, 1967. This list was later codified in part 17 of title 50 in the U.S. Code of Federal Regulations 35 FR
16048, October 13, 1970. With the passage of the Endangered Species Act of 1973 ESA, those species previously listed in the Code of Federal Regulations were directly incorporated into the Lists of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants under the ESA, found at 50
CFR 17.11 and 17.12. In October 1996, we designated a nonessential experimental population of the California condor in portions of northern Arizona, southern Utah, and southern Nevada 61 FR 54044, October 16, 1996. Therefore, the California condor is currently listed as an endangered species wherever it is found, except in portions of northern Arizona, southern Utah, and southern Nevada, where it is considered a nonessential experimental population.
The California condor is protected by the State of California under both the State Endangered Species Act and the California Fish and Game Code as a Fully Protected species. It is also listed as a Sensitive Species under California Forest Practice Rules. In September of 2018, the State of California passed legislation that allows the California Department of Fish and Wildlife CDFW to consider the content of any final rules under section 10j of the Federal Endangered Species Act for the California condor. This legislation AB2640 allows the Director of the
Biological Information
Historical Range During the Pleistocene Epoch, the California condor was broadly distributed in North America from southern British Columbia to Baja California, and eastward throughout the southern United States and northern Mexico to Florida Koford 1953, p. 7;
Brodkorb 1964, pp. 253254; Messing 1986, pp. 284285; Steadman and Miller 1987, p. 423; Snyder and Snyder 2005, p. 6; DElia and Haig 2013, p. 17. The extent of its distribution along the east coast of North America during the late Pleistocene also extended to the boreal forests of upstate New York Steadman and Miller 1987, pp. 416423. The disappearance of the California condor from its prehistoric range in North America east of the Rocky Mountains occurred about 10,00011,000 years ago coinciding with the late-Pleistocene extinction of the North American megafauna Emslie 1987, pp. 768770;
Steadman and Miller 1987, pp. 422
425. Analysis of stable isotopes in bone collagen suggests that the California condors persistence along the Pacific coast at the end of the Pleistocene was at least partially due to the availability of marine-derived carrion Chamberlain et al. 2005, p. 16710; Fox-Dobbs et al.
2006, p. 688.
Historical observations of California condors indicate that they were widespread and locally abundant from southern British Columbia, Canada, to Baja California, Mexico, during EuroAmerican colonization Koford 1953, pp. 819; Wilbur 1978, pp. 13, 7285;
Snyder and Snyder 2005, pp. 45; DElia and Haig 2013, pp. 3859. At that time they were apparently restricted to the
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Species Description The California condor is one of seven New World vultures in the Cathartidae family and the only extant species in the genus Gymnogyps Amadon 1977, pp.
413414; Johnson et al. 2016, pp. 193, 197. It is the largest of the North American vultures and the largest soaring land bird on the continent with a wingspan of approximately 9.5 feet ft 2.9 meters m Koford 1953, p. 3;
Finkelstein et al. 2015, Introduction, Appearance. Males weigh slightly more than females average weight of 19.4
pounds lb 8.8 kilograms kg for males and 17.9 lb 8.1 kg for females and have slightly higher wing loading, but otherwise there are no obvious differences in coloration or morphology between the sexes Finkelstein et al.
2015, Appearance. California condors exhibit age-related coloration changes Koford 1953, p. 5; Snyder and Snyder 2000, pp. 1419. Adults have black feathers except for prominent white underwing linings and edges of the upper secondary coverts. The head and neck of adults are mostly naked and range in color from yellowish to reddish orange on the head to gray, yellow, orange, and red on the neck Koford 1953, pp. 45. The heads of juveniles up to 3 years old are grayish-black, and their wing linings are variously mottled or completely dark Koford 1953, p. 5;
Snyder and Snyder 2000, pp. 1419.
During the third year, the head develops yellow coloration, and the dark juvenile underwing linings are gradually replaced with white adult feathers Snyder and Snyder 2000, pp. 15, 17.

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