Watch: Condor lays an egg in tree scorched by Dolan Fire

A female condor in a redwood forest burned in last year’s devastating Dolan Fire has laid an egg in the top of a charred redwood tree, offering hope for the endangered birds’ recovery after 11 were killed in the blaze. The egg is expected to hatch April 24.

It was laid by a 23-year-old condor well known to California condor (Gymnogyps californianus) watchers. Last year, as the flames approached, a camera was monitoring one of its chicks in the same tree as the flames approached. That chick survived and was taken to be raised at the Los Angeles Zoo. It is scheduled to be returned to the wild later this year.

“These birds aren’t giving up. Neither are we,” Kelly Sorenson, executive director of the Ventana Wildlife Society, told the East Bay Times.

Read more from the East Bay Times and watch the nest cam below.