California condors confront bird flu in flight from extinction

Condor chick LA1123 waits for its feeding in a temperature controlled enclosure at the Los Angeles Zoo (AP)

The California condor is facing the deadliest strain of avian influenza in US history, and the outbreak could jeopardise the species decades after conservationists saved it from extinction.

Nine newly-hatched chicks, covered in downy white feathers, give condor-keepers at the Los Angeles Zoo hope that the endangered population of North America’s largest soaring land birds, which have a 10ft wingspan, will once again thrive after 40 years of effort.