Which bird is the largest land bird in North America?

The California condor is the largest land bird in North America.

This enormous New World vulture, Gymnogyps californianus, is also North America’s largest flying land bird and has the continent’s widest bird wingspan. It is a soaring scavenger, using broad wings and rising air currents to search huge areas for carrion rather than pursuing live prey.

The species once ranged across much of western North America, and fossil remains show that its ancient range extended far beyond California. Poisoning from lead ammunition, DDT, habitat loss, poaching, and other pressures drove it to the brink of extinction. In 1987, conservation authorities captured the last 22 wild condors for a captive-breeding program.

Releases began in the 1990s, and condors now fly in parts of California, Arizona, Utah, and Baja California. The species remains critically endangered. A common mix-up is the trumpeter swan: it is heavier and is North America’s heaviest native bird, but it is a waterfowl species, not the continent’s largest land bird.