The California condor has appeared on the cover of many magazines in recent decades. In this post I share 10 fine examples.

The February 1978 cover of Birding featured this oft-reprinted photo by John Borneman, here in black and white:

The New Scientist cover for 16 October 1986 included a provocative headline over a photo by Jeff Foote and Bruce Coleman:

Inside the June 1987 issue of WildBird is the caption for the cover image. The caption reads, in part:

The rarest of sights …. At the time of writing, only one condor remained free.

The cover photo for this issue is by David Clendenen:

The April-June 1990 cover of Birds International shows a photo taken by Noel Snyder on the summit of Mount Pinos (elevation 8847 feet / 2697 m):

A photo taken at the Los Angeles Zoo by Anthony Mercieca graced the December 1991 cover of Birder’s World:

The April 1992 issue of the magazine of the San Diego Zoo, Zoonooz, celebrated the release of California condors back into the wild. This photo of condor AC-9 was taken in November 1986 by David Clendenen:

In Spring 1997, the magazine of the Los Angeles Zoo, Zooview, also featured AC-9, here in a photo by Mike Wallace:

The cover of the Fall 1999 issue of Hawk Mountain News did not include a photographer credit:

This beautiful photo by Susan Middleton and David Liittschwager appeared on the January-February 2000 cover of Audubon:

Finally, offering a reminder of the expanding range of the California condor, here is a photo by Chris Parish on the cover of the September-October 2011 issue of Arizona Wildlife Views:

Some of the photos above were taken by professional photographers while others were taken by condor scientists. We are fortunate that many condor scientists, who spend long hours with condors in the field and captivity, have considerable photographic talent.

My other posts with photos of the California condor include Close-up news photos 1935-1980 and Photogenic & newsworthy eggs & chicks.