Defying Extinction: The Story of the California Condor

As John Mark Maio's documentary makes clear, the task of saving the California condor from extinction has been a labor of love for many dedicated scientists and volunteers over the past century. The same can be said for Defying Extinction, which for Maio involved half a decade of filming, editing, writing, and even scoring. The result lacks some technical polish—the narration is sometimes clumsily written and the music is often overbearing—but Maio's footage of the birds in flight is quite beautiful, and the overall coverage is very informative. The first part of the film chronicles earlier efforts made to assist the condors' survival, starting in the early 1900s after the population had fallen precipitously. Composed largely of archival material—stills, newspaper articles, and black-and-white clips—supplemented by interview excerpts, this overview serves up a portrait of a heroic ecological project that was conducted against great odds. The second part focuses on the continuation of that work into the present, showing how birds are currently raised, released into the wild, electronically tracked, and medically treated should they fall ill. Emphasis is placed on the fact that the condors' decline has been traced to lead poisoning from these scavengers' consumption of bullet fragments lodged in the carcasses on which they feed, which has resulted in attempts to promote the use of other forms of ammunition by hunters. An often engaging account of the history and current status of the California condor, this is a strong optional purchase. Aud: C, P. (F. Swietek)