


The solar-powered "condor cam" allows the public to watch the huge, vulture-like birds feeding, grooming and flying in real time, and enables scientists to monitor them more efficiently.

It's the latest example of how inexpensive video technology and high-speed Internet connections are changing the way the public interacts with wildlife -- from sea otters at the Monterey Bay Aquarium to pandas at Washington, D.C.'s National Zoo.

Two California condors fly above McWay Rocks at Big Sur on the California coast. (Tim Huntington/Ventana Wildlife Society)
Two California condors fly above McWay Rocks at Big Sur on the California coast. (Tim Huntington/Ventana Wildlife Society) ( tim huntington/ventana wildlife )

"We put the camera right on top of one of the main feeding areas so we could zoom down and get identification of each individual," said Kelly Sorenson, executive director of the Ventana Wildlife Society, a nonprofit that has worked to bring condors back from the brink of extinction.

"Over the weekend when we were testing it, we had 25 condors in front of the camera."

The condor cam can be watched on the group's website,




On Wednesday at noon, biologists will be releasing three condors on camera that were raised in captivity. When they aren't releasing birds, the new video footage can help scientists see how condors are feeding, or whether they are exhibiting signs of lead poisoning from eating dead animals with lead bullet fragments in them. "We have to drive one-and-a-half hours up a dirt road behind five locked gates just to get to this place," Sorenson said. "It's an all-day thing. So this is an amazing tool for us to help monitor condors in the wild."

The marriage of Silicon Valley and "Wild Kingdom" is part of a national trend at zoos, aquariums and other wildlife hot spots.


"We want people to be amazed and inspired by the animals," said aquarium spokesman Ken Peterson. "If people can't physically be in the buildings, they still have a chance to stay connected with them. It's like visiting old friends."


Wild animals don't always do cute and cuddly things. In fact, the Ventana Wildlife Society website has a note saying, "Viewer discretion advised. May contain graphic feeding images."


"It's not the Disney Channel," said Michelle McGurk, a spokesman for San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed. "But it has created a lot of enthusiasm -- particularly among children -- about biology and science and nature. It's really exciting."
