Shorebird wood chipper massacre reported in Oakland

Above: Baby black-crowned night herons are kept warm in an incubator during treatment last year at the International Bird Rescue center in Fairfield. Above: Baby black-crowned night herons are kept warm in an incubator during treatment last year at the International Bird Rescue center in Fairfield. Photo: Paul Chinn / The Chronicle Photo: Paul Chinn / The Chronicle Image 1 of / 27 Caption Close Shorebird wood chipper massacre reported in Oakland 1 / 27 Back to Gallery

Oakland has come to love the squawking black-crowned night herons that have taken up residence downtown. City work crews leave them alone, and residents say they adore the colony's rain-forest-like cacophony - a bit of nature amid the hardscrabble urban landscape.

But the shorebirds aren't so cute to the U.S. Postal Service. Officials at the downtown post office ordered nearby trees trimmed Saturday because nesting birds were defecating on the mail trucks.

The result, witnesses said, was a feathery massacre that ended with nests - and baby birds - fed through a wood chipper, hysterical neighbors protesting in the street, and a call to Oakland police officers, who ordered the trimmers to stop.

Now, state and federal wildlife officials are investigating the matter, because the nest destruction and bird deaths may have violated the U.S. Migratory Bird Treaty Act.

"I'm devastated. That someone could do that without even looking to see if there are nests, could have so little empathy ... it's heart wrenching," said Stephanie Benavidez, Oakland's supervising naturalist. "The public was incensed, rightfully."

At home in ficus trees

Black-crowned night herons, which are protected by state and federal laws, started roosting in ficus trees in downtown Oakland a few years ago, apparently displaced by a booming cormorant population at Lake Merritt and a construction project along the estuary.

On some blocks, the 2-foot-tall birds are as common as pigeons. They strut along the sidewalk, perch on lampposts and flit from tree to tree. In the spring, they build a profusion of nests, and the streets are alive with the chirps of baby birds and the loud "quork" of their parents as they deliver fish and other treats gathered from Lake Merritt and San Francisco Bay.

Oakland trained its public works crews to leave the birds alone and steer clear of ficus trees during nesting season.

But everyone agrees the large birds can be messy. The sidewalks around 13th and Alice streets, for example, are often a white slick of guano. And the mail trucks parked in the lot there bear the brunt of it.

Enter Campos Tree Service, a family-owned operation based in Walnut Creek. Postal officials hired Campos to trim the city-owned trees that housed the offending birds.

What witnesses saw

On Saturday, crews sawed off branches on four trees, setting aside a few babies but otherwise sending nests and chicks toppling 25 feet to the ground before they were then fed to the wood chipper, witnesses said.

"It was awful," said Lisa Owens Viani, director of Raptors are the Solution, who was among the first on the scene. "It's especially appalling because these birds are so vulnerable and such a valuable part of the ecosystem."

Horrified onlookers called the Oakland police, who ordered the tree trimmers to stop. No one could say how many birds died, but Viani and others managed to rescue five chicks, which are now being cared for at International Bird Rescue in Fairfield.

The rescued birds are 1 to 3 weeks old and are suffering from a range of scrapes, bruises and ruptures but are expected to survive, said Andrew Harmon, spokesman for International Bird Rescue. One has a fractured jawbone, he said.

The bird deaths and injuries were an accident, said Joe Campos, a supervisor at Campos Tree Service.

"The crew didn't know the baby birds were in there," he said. "They were new. It'll never happen again. It's a big deal, though - we don't want to destroy anything."

Wildlife investigation

U.S. and California wildlife officials are investigating the case, said Andrew Hughan, spokesman for the state Fish and Wildlife department.

"If we decide to pursue this matter, it would most likely be criminal and go through a district attorney," he said.

Killing nesting migratory birds, which is a misdemeanor, carries a fine of $2,000 per bird and a maximum sentence of six months in jail, said Steve Martarano, U.S. Fish and Wildlife spokesman.

The Golden Gate Audubon Society encourages arborists to avoid tree-trimming in the spring and check thoroughly for occupied nests any time of year.

The whole incident is a terrible accident, said Augustine Ruiz, spokesman for the Postal Service.

"I can certainly understand why people are upset," he said. "The post office would never do anything to hurt wildlife. In fact, we issue stamps to protect birds. This is very unfortunate."