A California condor has soared over Oregon for the first time since 1904, the Yurok Tribe announced Monday. Two-year-old condor B9 completed a 380-mile triangular journey from Orick in Northern California, east to Redding, then north to Medford, Oregon, becoming the first condor to fly free in the state in over 100 years.

“It’s been a dream for many Oregonians to see a California condor soar over our state again, and B9’s journey has made that dream real,” said Oregon Zoo director Heidi Rahn. “Historic moments like this show the power of Tribal leadership in wildlife recovery. We’re deeply honored to partner with the Yurok Tribe to help bring this iconic species back to its ancestral range and to support a future for condors in the Pacific Northwest.”

In Oregon, the last wild condor was observed in the city of Drain between Eugene and Roseburg in 1904.

Condor B9 hatched on April 3, 2024, at the World Center for Birds of Prey in Boise, Idaho. She was released into Yurok ancestral lands last fall. On May 12, 2026, she began the four-day flight from Orick to Redding before crossing both the northern Trinity Alps and Marble Mountain Wildernesses prior to circling within 8 miles of Medford.

On the return trip, she spent one night near Cave Junction before heading down the Smith River corridor and making a detour to coastal Oregon before arriving back at the condor release facility on May 16.

In the Yurok worldview, condors take prayers to heaven and bring the world into balance. The tribe reintroduced the first condors in Northern California in 2022, and now about 24 birds fly free along the Klamath River.

The California Condor Recovery Program is an international multi-entity effort, led by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The NCCRP is a partnership between the Yurok Tribe and Redwood National and State Parks.

Photo caption: Yurok Wildlife Department Technician Sandra Hahn releases B9 into the NCCRP’s condor release and management facility. Photo provided by the Yurok Tribe.