Join Friends of California Condors Wild and Free for a captivating screening of “The Condor’s Shadow,” a one hour film by Mr. Jeff McLoughlin, exploring the remarkable journey of the critically
endangered California Condor! The documentary follows biologist Mr. Joseph Brandt into the historic nesting habitat of this iconic bird located in Ventura County. After the film there will be a Q&A with Mr. Brandt. Our guest will speak to the public after the film viewing in the Topping Room at the Ventura Public Library located at 651 E. Main St. from 2:00 to 3:30 pm on Sunday, October 19, 2025.
After graduating from the University of Oregon in 2004, Joseph Brandt found his way to the California Condor Recovery Program in 2005, working as a volunteer intern for the Hopper Mountain National Wildlife Refuge Complex. After a season of working with Magellanic Penguins in Southern Chile, he returned to the condor program to work as a condor nesting biologist along the Big Sur coast with the Ventana Wildlife Society. There he documented the first condor nest in over 100 years in Monterey County and the first ever in a coastal redwood tree.
In 2007, he began his career with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service again working with the California Condor Recovery Program at the Hopper Mountain Complex. In 2009, he became the supervisory wildlife biologist for the condor program and he led the effort to release condors in the Transverse range, Tehachapi Mountains, and Southern Sierras for the next 10 years - more than quadrupling the wild population of condors in Southern California!
In 2019, he changed roles with USFWS and started at the Ventura Fish and Wildlife Office working on section 7 consultations and incidental take permitting. In 2023, he was promoted to assistant field supervisor of the Central Coast Division of the Ventura Field Office, where he now leads a team of biologists who consult on a variety of endangered species, including condors, primarily in Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo Counties and the Los Padres National Forest.
The California condor was listed as an endangered species in 1967. In 1987 California Condors were on the verge of extinction with only 27 alive, as the last free flying condor, AC9, was taken from the wild. In 1992, the USFWS began reintroducing captive-bred condors to the wild to reestablish the population. Today, there are over 560 birds with over half of them flying free in the wild in various populations including California, Arizona, and Baja Mexico. The California Condor is a resident of the local area and can be found in the mountains behind Ojai, Santa Paula, Fillmore, Piru, and Santa Barbara.
The Recovery Program is currently focusing its efforts on the captive breeding and reintroduction of California condors to the wild in the hopes of establishing a self sustaining population of two geographically separate populations, one in California and the other in Arizona, each with 150 birds and at least 15 breeding pairs.
Friends of California Condors Wild and Free is a nonprofit 501c3 all volunteer organization, that has the mission to enhance public awareness of the endangered California Condor and to ensure that they are protected, healthy, and free.
Come learn about the endangered California Condor, North America’s largest land bird. Learn how you can help the California Condor recovery effort. Become a volunteer! Be informed!
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