Condor Ridge - California Condor Aviary

The entire Condor Ridge area of the park is simply superb, and the desert bighorn sheep and condor aviary both seem to melt into the arid backdrop of the desert surrounding the enclosures. I still have the nicely-packaged booklet that can be picked up along the trail, and inside there is a great deal of information on the animals and plant-life in the exhibits. This area is one of the many highlights of the excellent Wild Animal Park.

This aviary does look superb. I would be interested, snowleopard, if the booklet gave the exact size as it is hard to judge from these pictures.

Hey redpanda, there is no mention of the size of the aviary in the booklet. I have it in front of me as I type this, and the 24-page booklet lists these animals as part of the Condor Ridge trail: thick-billed parrot, western greater roadrunner, Canadian porcupine, ocellated turkey, black-tailed prairie dog, black-footed ferret, western harris' hawk, western burrowing owl, desert tortoise, American magpie, California condor and desert bighorn sheep. There is also a listing of the plant life within the exhibits.

I have not seen any size statistics for this but I am guessing it is 4400 square feet, while its height varies based on the slope below it.

The park's website states that the entire Condor Ridge area is 2 acres (0.8 hectares) in size, and the California condor aviary itself is 6 stories high. It opened on May 27th, 2000:

Wild Animal Park Exhibit: Condor Ridge

snowleopard said:

Hey redpanda, there is no mention of the size of the aviary in the booklet. I have it in front of me as I type this, and the 24-page booklet lists these animals as part of the Condor Ridge trail: thick-billed parrot, western greater roadrunner, Canadian porcupine, ocellated turkey, black-tailed prairie dog, black-footed ferret, western harris' hawk, western burrowing owl, desert tortoise, American magpie, California condor and desert bighorn sheep. There is also a listing of the plant life within the exhibits.

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The ocellated turkeys replaced the original inhabitant, an aplomado falcon. The turkeys themselves have since been replaced with bald eagles.

Thanks snowleopard and geomorph, 4400 square feet is roughly 400 square metres (I work in metric ), that's a huge aviary. It also really blends in with the surrounding californian landscape - a truly brilliant exhibit.

The whole San Diego Safari Park is just incredibly beautiful. My favorite zoo I've visited by far.

@Ituri Hi Ituri, I'm quite interested in Condor Ridge and doing a deep dive on the exhibit. From what I understand the original species included:
· Thick-billed parrot
· Western greater roadrunner
· North American porcupine
· Aplomado falcon
· Black-tailed prairie dog
· Black-footed ferret
· Western Harris’s hawk
· Western burrowing owl
· Desert tortoise
· Black-billed magpie
· California condor
· Desert bighorn sheep

I know many of these are no longer present. Do you remember which species have been exhibited since the exhibit's opening? Also what animals replaces the prairie dogs and ferrets? Am I correct to assume that some of the smaller habitats have been gotten rid of since the opening?

I seem to recall ocelot at some point, perhaps even in two of the exhibits? I think the number of exhibits is the same as when the exhibit complex opened.