Condor cam goes live in Big Sur, California

(UPI) -- California's first-ever live streaming video of condors in the wild went live Monday in Big Sur.

The solar-powered "condor cam" allows the public to watch the vulture-like birds feeding, grooming and flying in real time, while enabling scientists monitor the birds more efficiently.

"We put the camera right on top of one of the main feeding areas so we could zoom down and get identification of each individual," said Kelly Sorenson, executive director of the Ventana Wildlife Society, a nonprofit organization that works to bring condors back from the brink of extinction.

"Over the weekend when we were testing it, we had 25 condors in front of the camera."

Biologists from the group will zoom in on the birds during key hours of the day, such as morning when they're the most active, Sorenson said. The staff will also alert the public via Twitter and Facebook when the birds are doing something particularly interesting.

The Ventana Wildlife Society website has a disclosure note explaining that the condor won't always be engaging in kid friendly activities during the broadcast.

"Viewer discretion advised. May contain graphic feeding images," reads the warning.

The "condor cam" can be watched at the Ventana Wildlife Society's website www.ventanaws.org/condor_cam/.