‘A sacred responsibility’: Yurok Tribe poised to return condors to the skies

The birds have not been seen in northern California for more than a century. Now they could help restore an ecosystem

Tucked among tall redwood trees in a remote part of northern California, four young California condors await their chance to take to the skies.

The fluffy juveniles - housed in a facility where they playfully peck at each other and jump between perches - will help usher in a new era. Referred to as prey-go-neesh by the Yurok people who called this land home, the sacred scavengers are the first group to be reintroduced to their native range since they disappeared from the region more than a century ago.