Surviving birds from Balboa tree removal released

Caroline Vassar was driving home after an afternoon tennis match in late May when she witnessed birds swirling above a tree that was in the process of being removed on East Balboa Boulevard.

She felt the situation wasn’t quite right, she said, so she walked back to the site where she said she witnessed adult and baby birds, some injured and limping, scattering from the tree as branches were being ripped down.

She recalled yelling to the crew to stop their work but said she was brushed off with a few unsavory remarks. So, she stood under the tree trying to impede the contractor’s work while attempting to rescue the snowy egrets and black-crowned night herons that for years had nested in the large tree.

Residents said the distressed birds circled above the tree, which sat on the site of a demolished house in the 1500 block, as their nests and chicks fell to the ground.

“It was heartbreaking to watch these birds call out for their chicks,” Vassar said.

Several neighbors joined her, followed by an animal control officer, who took several birds to the Wetlands & Wildlife Care Center in Huntington Beach, where they spent the weeks that followed recovering and preparing to return home.

More than a month later, Vassar, along with several of her Peninsula Point neighbors, gathered at a tree-filled community park Wednesday morning to reintroduce five of the birds back into the wild.

After the damage was done, officials who were called to the scene explained that federal law prohibits anyone from disturbing or removing active birds’ nests from trees.

“I didn’t know what they were doing was illegal at the time,” she said. “I just thought it was morally wrong. It was heartless.”

Several neighbors said Wednesday they were relieved to watch the two snowy egrets and three black-crested night herons fly high into the treetops at the park.

“The tree they came from, unfortunately, is gone,” said resident Shelley Ervin. “We chose the park because of how many trees are here. We felt that it was important they be released back to where they’re from.”

Newport Beach animal control officials and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife investigated Tim Greenleaf Engineering, the demolition company that allegedly removed the tree, for a possible misdemeanor violation of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918, which protects birds throughout the United States.

A spokesman for Tim Greenleaf Engineering did not return a phone call seeking comment.

Officials recently sent their findings to the Orange County District Attorney’s office. Prosecutors will decide whether or not to file charges.

In response to the event, the city has started handing out a flier with their building and demolition permits explaining the laws protecting native birds and how to avoid disrupting nests, said City Manager Dave Kiff.

“I think we’re all sorry we had to do this — reminding people not to kill birds is not something we thought we had to do,” he said.