Condor Roost Cam

A Roost for a Recovering Species

This camera watches a favored roosting perch used by California Condors at the Ventana Wildlife Society's sanctuary in Big Sur, part of the decades-long effort to return this critically endangered species to the wild along the central California coast.

The Weathered Snag

A bare, sun-bleached tree skeleton rises above the hillside, its bark long gone and its bleached limbs offering an open, unobstructed vantage that condors favor for sunning, preening, and scanning the surrounding canyons for thermals.

Big Sur Backcountry

Framed by dry chaparral and scattered conifers, the setting captures the wild, rugged character of the Big Sur interior, two miles inland from the Pacific coastline.

Conservation in Action

Since 1997 the Ventana Wildlife Society has released captive-bred condors here, and live cams like this one let scientists and the public track the ongoing recovery of a species that once neared extinction.