Meet the world’s biggest bird lover: Ernesto Pulido, post office tree trimmer.
A week ago, Pulido was at the center of a federal investigation – and the object of vast public scorn – for allegedly allowing his workers to feed baby night herons through a wood chipper and injuring other baby birds while trimming trees outside a post office in downtown Oakland.
But Thursday a different side to him emerged. U.S. Fish and Wildlife investigators cleared him of the wood-chipper charges, and he paid a visit to the wildlife center in Fairfield that’s treating the baby birds harmed in the tree-trimming incident.
“Every single one of us should be more educated about birds,” Pulido said, as he toured International Bird Rescue. “People just aren’t educated about animals. They don’t know. That includes me.”
The tree-trimming incident occurred May 3 at 13th and Alice streets, where the U.S. Postal Service hired Pulido to cut back city-owned ficus trees that housed hundreds of nesting night herons and egrets, which are protected by the U.S. Migratory Bird Treaty Act.
The trees overhang a parking lot, and the birds were defecating on the mail trucks, postal officials said.
Witnesses reported seeing nest-laden branches fed into a wood chipper, and baby birds plummeting to the ground. Five of those birds ended up at International Bird Rescue, where they’ve been undergoing treatment for bruises and fractures.
$2,700 for bird care
Pulido, a Bay Point resident, offered to pay $2,700 toward the birds’ care: the $2,200 he earned from the U.S. Postal Service for the tree-trimming job plus an additional $500. He’s already paid the $500 and is awaiting payment from the post office to pay the rest, said International Bird Rescue spokesman Andrew Harmon.
But that wasn’t enough for Pulido. He wanted to learn more about night herons, what the center does to save them and what the public can do to help.
He was full of questions Thursday. What’s the likelihood the injured birds will survive? How long can they live in a city? What’s the difference between “endangered” and “protected”?
Questions answered
He got those answers (very high; many years; and “protected” applies to all native birds, not just the scarce ones) and much more. He saw volunteers checking the herons’ feathers, he saw herons learning to fly, and he learned about the great tragedy of baby herons’ tendency to shove their siblings out of the nest.
Center manager Michelle Bellizzi also gave him a stern lesson on when to trim trees: winter only.
“If you want to discourage birds from nesting, trim the bejesus out of your trees in the winter,” she said. “That way it’ll be a real unattractive place for them in the springtime and they’ll go somewhere else.”
Ideas for Oakland
Everyone agreed Oakland should install signs educating the public about the bird rookeries downtown. If the city is lucky enough to have protected birds nesting on city streets, it should inform residents about how best to live with the feathered squawkers.
Fish and Wildlife has not yet concluded its investigation, but Pulido’s bird campaign is just getting started.
He said everyone who criticized him for the tree-trimming fiasco should donate money or volunteer at wildlife rescue organizations. He was so impressed with International Bird Rescue he even offered his landscaping services.
“We just might take you up on that,” Harmon said.
Carolyn Jones is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: carolynjones@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @carolynajones
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