Meriwether Lewis, of the Lewis and Clark expedition, wrote to Thomas Jefferson in 1805 about a bird they shot along the Columbia River that had a 9-foot wingspan.
“I believe this is the largest bird of North America.” Lewis was right, and that bird, called prey-go-neesh in the Yurok language, was named the California condor by naturalist George Shaw.
They survived in Oregon until 1904, when the last one was seen south of Eugene-Springfield. By 1987, the entire worldwide population was only 22 California condors. But in May, something miraculous happened: The California condor made its return to Oregon skies…