All photos by Kylie Clatterbuck
On Tuesday, high winds toppled this tree near the Ports O’Call Village in San Pedro, located not far from our Los Angeles
wildlife care center. Sadly, this tree was a rookery for many Black-crowned Night Herons and Snowy Egrets, and the scene was littered with broken eggs.
But the L.A. Harbor Department’s tree crew from its construction and maintenance team responded quickly to the fallen tree and rescued a total of 15 baby birds — 12 Black-crowned Night Herons and three Snowy Egrets.
Whenever possible, we will attempt to reunite baby birds that have fallen out of nests with their parents. Clearly we couldn’t do that in this case, and placing them in an adjacent tree wasn’t a feasible alternative. So we’re happy to report that all these baby birds are now in our care. They range from a Snowy Egret that likely hatched just a day or two ago to Black-crowned Nigh Herons that were close to fledging their nests.
Baby Black-crowned Night Herons
“All the babies were in great shape when they arrived, full bellies from being fed by mom earlier that day, and are eating well on their own,” staff rehabilitation technician Kylie Clatterbuck reports. “Aside from a few minor abrasions, they all look great.”
Snowy Egrets
We’ll keep you posted on their progress at our L.A. center. In the meantime, please consider supporting the care for these animals by visiting birdrescue.org/donate.
Adult Black-crowned Night Heron (left) by Jackie Wollner; adult Snowy Egret by Frank Schulenberg via Wikimedia Commons.
