Tracy Aviary’s Andy N. Condor proved that you don’t have to be conventionally attractive to be beloved.
The Andean condor, a South American vulture species, died Thursday at the age of 64, leaving fans “heartbroken,” “devastated” and “gutted,” according to posts on Facebook.
“Vultures are not what you’d call conventionally handsome. They’re not,” said Helen Dishaw, birds program manager at the aviary. “But you couldn’t be in his presence and not think he was beautiful. I mean, he was imposing.”
And his face was “charming and so full of expression,” she said. “I literally have never heard anybody say they thought he was ugly. He just shone.”
Andy died in his sleep on Thursday of “natural causes,” according to the aviary. He lived 63 of his 64 years at the Salt Lake City aviary.
(Al Hartmann | The Salt Lake Tribune) Andy the Andean Condor preens his feathers at Tracy Aviary.
“They’re not the most loved creatures,” Dishaw said of vultures. “But they definitely need our protection and support. And so him being an ambassador that helps people fall in love with vultures was huge.”
Andy had more than 20,000 followers on Facebook, and received messages daily from around the world, said Dishaw, who ran his social media accounts.
“One person commented that he single-handedly turned them from ‘ewww’ to ‘ahhh”’ when it came to vultures,” she said. “We have this impression of vultures as they’re kind of ugly. Gross. Harbingers of death. The list goes on and on. But they’re actually beautiful, intelligent creatures. And he was the epitome of that. The most handsome. Most gentle.”
(Tracy Aviary) Andy the Andean Condor stretches his wings while out for a walk with guests at Tracy Aviary.
Like other Andean condors, Andy was a large black bird with white patches on his wings and a ruff of white feathers around his neck.
His head and neck were pretty much featherless — a dull red color — and he had a neck wattle, along with a dark red comb on top of his head. Not exactly the most beautiful of birds, especially at a facility that houses brightly colored toucans, flamingos and macaws.
Yet he was among the aviary’s most popular ambassadors. Dishaw said that when she walked Andy around the grounds, “there were occasions when we’d have little toddlers that were smaller than him running toward him with their arms outstretched saying, ‘Andy!’ They want to run up and hug him. And there aren’t words for that.”
Andy was not your typical vulture. “Andean condors are not known for being gentle, easygoing dudes,” Dishaw said with a laugh. “They’re quite tough birds. But he was one in a million. There will never be another one like him.”
Dishaw, who said Andy was “the love of my life and always will be,” isn’t the only one mourning his passing. She received hundreds of condolence messages, and dozens have posted about the condor’s death on social media.
“Andy was such an incredibly special bird,” wrote one person, “and I know how many lives he touched and what a great ambassador he was for condors around the world. So grateful I got to know him and learn from him. Tracy won’t be the same without him.”
(Tracy Aviary) Andy the Andean condor celebrated his 60th birthday with a beer named in his honor.
He even got his own beer — Andy Ale, a black rye saison, brewed by the since-shuttered Toasted Barrel Brewery — when he turned 60 back in 2019. On May 20, the aviary also hosted a 64th birthday celebration for the big bird, billed as a day of “bird-day fun.”
According to Tracy Aviary, “Andy enjoyed life until the end, going on countless morning walks around the aviary and interacting with our staff and visitors until the day before his death.”
Even in the wild, Andean condors can live more than half a century — adults have no natural predators — and Andy made it well into his 60s. That’s not a record, however. An Andean condor named Thaao lived to the age of 79 at the Beardsley Zoo in Connecticut.
A memorial for Andy is pending. “We are working on plans on how to celebrate Andy’s life best and honor his memory,” according to the aviary, “and will announce those in a future post.”
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