Ag Museum Presents Biologist and Environmental Advocate René Corado

Using clues from bird eggs to piece together past and present science

Ornithologist and environmental advocate René Corado will share his encyclopedic knowledge of eggs from around the world: from bean-size hummingbird eggs and strangely conical murre eggs to the few surviving gargantuan elephant bird eggs, 1 pm – 2:30 pm, Oct. 20 at the Agriculture Museum, 926 Railroad Ave., Santa Paula. Corado will reflect on his journey from his birth into severe poverty in Guatemala to becoming the collections manager of the Western Foundation of Vertebrate Zoology, emphasizing his research projects in the Amazon jungle of Ecuador and in Costa Rica, collecting thousands of eggs and nests.

Born in a village of 13 houses in Guatemala, Corado now lives in Oxnard and manages the collection at the Western Foundation of Vertebrate Zoology, a Camarillo-based museum with the world’s largest collection of bird eggs and nests. He is also the author of the book El Lustrador (The Shoeshine Boy), the story of his remarkable and difficult journey from poverty and loss to a successful life. A graduate of Oxnard College, Corado received the Guatemalan Writer of the Year Award in 2015.

Admission is free for members, $5 for nonmembers. Books will be available for sale and signing. For more information call 805-653-0323.  

The Museum of Ventura County’s ‘Speaking Of’ lecture series is sponsored in part by Rabobank.