posted on Jul, 24 2007 @ 09:05 PM
California Condors are very rare birds and are still quite endangered despite the breeding programs that they have been working on for several years.
Each and every Condor in the US is tracked and looked after. They live in specific areas and Illinois is not one of them.
Unless someone somehow smuggled an Andean Condor up from South America, and then let it go, I doubt it was a condor that you saw. California Condors,
the largest flying land bird in the US, have a wing span of about 9-1/2 feet, so your perception of a 14 foot wingspan must be erroneous. Sometimes it
can be quite difficult to make accurate size estimates. 14 feet is even bigger than the Andean Condors wingspan. The Albatross has the largest
wingspan of any bird at a bit over 11 feet, but they are seafaring birds and would never be found inland near Illinois.
Perhaps it could have been an Eagle, either a Golden, or perhaps Bald eagle as they have a wingspan of about 7 feet. I'm not sure what else it could
have been as you claim it wasn't a Turkey Vulture.
Keep your eyes to the skies and perhaps you will see it again and get a better look.