Western Foundation of Vertebrate Zoology — Attraction in Camarillo

TL;DR: A delightful gem of a place! I'm not a birder or ornithologist but I loved exploring the impressive array of mounted ("stuffed") birds, eggs and nests. I spent an hour here but others might get their fill in 20-30 min.

Longer version: I came in the mood to explore something I knew very little about and was generously rewarded! I left with a new appreciation for the amazing diversity of birds and of the dedicated people who study them.

Some of my favorites:

Looking at the nests made me realize: birds are incredible engineers! The nest constructions show resourcefulness, insight on how to build secure and durable nests, with soft, insulated linings for the eggs and hatchlings!

One nest was built inside an abandoned hornet or wasp's nest! Another nest was made almost exclusively from a thick section of rope that had been unraveled and then rewoven into a well structured nest. Wow!

One display showed the full range of egg sizes, from tiny hummingbird eggs to the fossilized egg of the massive (and appropriately named) elephant bird (that went extinct around 1000 BCE).

Another display talked about the real James Bond, an ornithologist author that Ian Fleming (author of the James Bond series) asked to borrow his name. They showed a still frame from Die Another Day, where James Bond (the spy) holds one of the birding field guides published by the real James Bond. Fun Easter egg!

There are some exquisitely hand carved statues of various ducks and other birds. The details are fantastic!

I got to see a quetzal bird, the bird that all the ancient Mesoamerican cultures saw as sacred and symbolic. It's vibrantly green!

I left the museum feeling a delightful sense of both awe and whimsy. Come see and enjoy this little-known...

There just isn't any place like The Western Foundation of Vertebrate Zoology! I fancy myself a pretty decent explorer when it comes to finding interesting things to see and do in socal... and I had never heard about this until very recently! I saw a picture of the room and it didn't look real. It looked like a room I HAD to visit!

Check their website as you need to schedule a tour, which they offer a few times a month. The tour is really more for adults, but I went with my toddler. We got there a half hour early, and the woman who ran it was SUPER cool and let us into the exhibit early and showed us around a little bit! She gave us free rain and showed my son things he could touch. It was awesome... so we had our turn to really explore on our own before the tour in case my son wouldn't stay still for it. Well... he wasn't exactly still, but he was good enough that we made it through the tour, so I got to learn a lot as well. They are super cool, friendly, informative and knowledgable.

Any kind of taxidermy bird, egg, or bird's nest... they have... probably a few hundred of! They have some other fossils and interesting things too. It's just a room you need to see to appreciate. It's just so unique and kind of feels like it has been forgotten about (though if you're into birds you know of this place for sure). Definitely check it out!!!

Make a day of it and look into other things in the area like The Pleasant Valley Historical Society and Botanical Gardens, The Commemorative Air Force Museum (where your kids can go inside a few planes and a helicopter), or the Antiques Mall of Camarillo. You can venture to Oxnard or...

Omg, Disneyland for birders and those interested in animals, nests, eggs, taxidermy, evolution, and life at large!

Our guide, Paul Grindrod (Science Education Coordinator), is clearly an ornithologist as he answered every question we had with ease, and taught us so much along the way with a number of engaging facts and stories. We felt so lucky to have connected with him.

Mimi Damwyk, the Collections Assistant, also was wonderfully well informed, easily pointing out the drawers, amongst thousands, that help shells from a elephant bird egg.

Organizations are only as strong as their people, and theirs are strong!

We Loved our time there exploring such a wide array of species and entering this space is mind blowing in its...