For many animals, the life cycle begins with an egg. For birds, the egg is expelled and nurtured in nests until the life within it hatches and becomes world-aware. At one time, bird eggs were a thing to be collected by hobbyists who found the different sizes and colors to be of extreme interest. These collectors traveled the world to find and acquire some rare eggs. That practice, thankfully, never expanded into today’s obsessed world. But many of those eggs are still in existence, and many are housed in a museum in Camarillo, California.
The museum is known as the Western Foundation of Vertebrate Zoology (WFVZ for short). Within the walls of the museum are more than a million eggs, all well-preserved to maintain their viewability and beautiful display, free of dust and parasites. Many of these eggs are from previously held private collectors, who traveled far and wide to gather some of the most exquisite specimens from many birds.
Museum’s Beginnings
Of these million eggs, they are sorted into 250,000 sets that represent over 4,000 bird species. The museum is also home to 500 once-private collections of bird eggs. These days, it is not legal to collect bird eggs, but the WFVZ organization has a special license to do so and to continue what is now known as the largest collection of bird eggs anywhere.
The museum is watched over by a purist caretaker, René Corado. A biologist from Guatemala City, Corado’s childhood was steeped in poverty. He immigrated to the U.S. and worked as a gardener to wildlife photographer Ed Harrison. Harrison was an avid egg collector who took an interest in Corado, encouraging the young man to improve his English skills and to attend school to improve his opportunities.
Corado credits Harrison with his transformation to where and who he is now—caretaker of a vast set of studied eggs, nests, and skins. A large portion of the collection was originally held by Harrison, who moved his large collection to Camarillo, where the museum currently resides.
A Go-To-Source for Scholars & Scientific Communities
Eggs within the museum are often evaluated and studied by researchers, those within educational and scientific communities, and artists. The contents of the museum have contributed to more than 4,000 scientific studies. The eggs are all digitized, and information and images can be acquired with the right credentials. Many of the images are used in Cornell’s Birds of North America pages.
The museum also has more than 14,000 nests as part of its collection, making it a repository of nests more than any other place in the world. As if that weren’t stunning enough, the museum is home to more than 56,000 skin specimens and is one of the top collections of avian skin specimens in the U.S.
The museum offers one-hour tours by appointment only on a few selected days and specified hours. You can read up on all things pertaining to WFVZ here, including how to become a member, special workshops, and more.