Caltrans versus Cliff Swallows

By Ilana DeBare

Dozens of Cliff Swallows are being killed each week by a Caltrans contractor in Petaluma — even though alternative technologies are available that would keep the swallows safe.

Sonoma County bird lovers are up in arms over the killings, in which swallows are being trapped in netting installed on a Highway 101 bridge by contractor C.C. Myers.

They’re asking other wildlife lovers to sign petitions and write letters asking Caltrans to remove the netting.

“This is the wrong material for the wrong structure in the wrong environment for the wrong purpose,” said Veronica Bowers of Native Songbird Care and Conservation, a Sonoma County wildlife rehabilitation group that is leading the fight against the netting.

The issue involves construction work to widen Highway 101, including a bridge where the highway crosses the Petaluma River. Cliff Swallows have nested under that bridge for decades, returning to the area each spring from their wintering grounds 6000 miles away in South America.

Federal law makes it illegal to interfere with nests of migratory birds. So to prevent the swallows from building nests on the bridge, Caltrans contractor C.C. Myers installed netting. But the netting is hardly bird-proof. The swallows — which have very strong fidelity to their previous nesting sites — fly into the netting and get trapped.

The irony is that — in supposed compliance with a law aimed at protecting birds’ nests — Caltrans is now killing birds.

In six visits between April 7 and 13, Native Songbird Care volunteers documented 87 dead Cliff Swallows, one dead Barn Swallow, and one dead European Starling. They estimate that the total death toll so far is in the hundreds.

In response to complaints about the deaths, the contractor now has workers removing bird carcasses and repairing holes in the netting each night. But new birds continue to get trapped every day, dying slow deaths from suffocation or dehydration.

Meanwhile, there’s an alternate technology that would prevent nesting during construction while also saving birds’ lives. Teflon (HDPE) sheeting can be wrapped on the bridge to deny the birds a foothold without entrapping them.

But Caltrans and C.C. Myers have so far refused to back off the deadly netting strategy. And U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife — which are responsible for enforcing the laws protecting migratory birds — so far have taken no action.

What can we do to help?

• Sign the online petition here.
• Send an email directly to Caltrans District 4 Director Bijan Sartipi at bijan_sartipi@dot.ca.gov telling Caltrans to TAKE DOWN THE NETS.
• Send an email to C.C. Myers CFO Linda Clifford at lclifford@ccmyersinc.com.
• Call the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service at 916-414-6660 or 650-876-9078 and tell them to take action on these illegal bird killings.
• Call your local state assemblyperson or senator and ask them to put pressure on Caltrans. The Petaluma bridge may not be in their district, but Caltrans is funded by all California taxpayers.

Sonoma conservationists are also planning on-site protests and vigils. To stay up to date, check the web site or Facebook page of Native Songbird Care and Conservation. Of course, we’ll also keep you up to date on the GGBA Facebook page.