Bakersfield's California Living Museum is inviting the public to start Saturday morning with coffee, pastries and a face-to-face meeting with two of the world's most endangered birds. The zoo's first Coffee with the Condors fundraiser takes place this Saturday at the museum, located at 10500 Alfred Harrell Highway, and will put CALM's two resident California condors on display alongside conservation information and children's activities.
CALM's events page and The Bakersfield Californian both list the fundraiser running from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. CALM describes the gathering as a chance to enjoy complimentary coffee and pastries while learning about California condor conservation and hearing from the museum's animal keepers about its own birds, according to calmzoo.org.
What's Included, and Who Gets In Free
Proceeds from the event benefit CALM's animal enrichment fund, which supports activities designed to encourage natural behaviors and provide the museum's animals with mental and physical stimulation, the newspaper's report notes. Regular admission costs $12, with seniors age 60 and older paying $9 and children ages 3 to 12 paying $8. Children age 2 and younger, CALM members, and military personnel and veterans with ID are admitted free, per the same account.
Reciprocal museum admission is valid for regular CALM admission but will not be accepted for Coffee with the Condors specifically, the report states. Visitors can buy tickets in advance online or at the gift shop on Saturday, and anyone who purchases by Thursday receives a complimentary train wristband for rides on the Central California Children's Railroad.
Condors, Mascots and Kids' Activities on Site
The morning will feature CALM's two resident California condors on display, along with representatives from the Friends of California Condors and appearances by the Bakersfield Condors mascots. The event also includes additional activities for children, rounding out a morning built around the birds.
The California condor remains both federally and state endangered. The species faces ongoing threats from habitat loss, hunting and lead poisoning, according to the same report.
A Species Still Climbing Back From the Brink
About 30 years ago, the condor was down to just 22 birds worldwide, and conservation efforts along with protected breeding programs have aided its slow recovery since, the newspaper notes. The bird's history runs even deeper: the California condor was placed on the federal endangered species list in 1967, and by April 1987 the last wild condor had been captured as part of an effort to save the species, according to the Los Angeles Times. The first captive-bred birds were released back into the wild in 1992.
By 2019, the Times reported the living condor population had climbed above 500, with more than half of those birds flying free in the wild, and the paper marked the birth of the 1,000th condor chick since the recovery program began more than three decades earlier. CALM's own condors did not take that path back to the wild. A 2025 report from SFGate identified the museum's two birds as condors 24 and 50, both raised in captivity and released before becoming permanent residents at CALM. CALM senior director Meg Maitland told the outlet that condor 24 kept returning to humans, so “eventually we had to take him back,” while condor 50 was found injured under a bridge, his tracking collar motionless for days.
The Friends of California Condors Wild and Free also lists the museum's gathering on its own calendar as a Coffee with a Condor event, according to the organization's events page, reflecting the broader conservation network that supports CALM's work with the species.
