Watch the Film


I swim regularly at our Santa Barbara City pool Los Baños del Mar. Each spring I watch and smell the Black-crowned Night Herons and Snowy Egrets that return to nest in the 7 Weeping ficus trees along Cabrillo adjacent to the empty wading pool at the end of Castillo Street. On May 5, 2021, Audubon birders Mark Holmgren and Lori Gaskin counted 37 Black-crowned Night Heron nests and 6 Snowy Egret nests in the ficus trees. See http://ebird.org/checklist/S87211626.

Back in June 2019 when I was filming Birds of Los Baños, those seven trees held at least 33 nests: 23 Night Heron and 10 Snowy Egret nests (counted in June 2019 by Audubon expert Mark Holmgren). The large canopies of these trees shelter the nests and young from April through September.  

The numerous branches provide avenues for the parents and flightless youngsters to move around. Below the trees lies an empty wading pool that closed in 2014 due to the drought and leaky pipes. The area, enclosed by a fence, provides a safe haven for young birds who can fly, but aren’t yet ready to hunt and feed themselves. 

In 2018, the City of Santa Barbara approved funds to design a Splash Playground to replace the wading pool. Preliminary plans by Parks & Recreation included slides, climbing structures, water canons, fountains that spout up from the ground, picnic tables, and restrooms. The department contracted with a Los Angeles design firm at a cost of $152,240. An additional $100,000 in the 2019 budget was reserved for drawing construction plans. Revisions to the plan were underway in 2020 to reduce costs, deal with stormwater disposal and somehow accommodate the birds. Due in part to the attention to this area due to the film and in part to the pandemic, the Parks & Recreation Department has indicated it will open a “community discussion” in 2022 about the future of this park.

Can 66+ adult birds and their young coexist alongside a splash playground?

Hurnblad believes they can’t. Jim has been rescuing chicks that fall out of the nests since 2015  as a volunteer for the Santa Barbara Wildlife Care Network.  He visits the site every morning and evening.  He believes and I agree (having watched and filmed there for 2 months) that the city’s plans will drive the birds away. Night Herons and Snowy Egrets are not endangered, but they are protected by the federal Migratory Bird Treaty Act. They made a comeback from a precipitous decline in the era of ladies wearing fancy hats decorated with bird feathers. They survived the DDT crisis. Development for decades has driven night herons from other nesting spots. We have a rare and healthy nesting colony at Los Baños and a great spot for educating birders and non-birders alike.

“Disturbed colonies of Black-crowned Night herons [BCNHs) may or may not re-establish in nearby areas” but “may relocate as far as 35-40 km away in response to nest disturbance… Herons (esp. BCNHs) seem to be very sensitive to changes in human activity and will abandon nesting areas if disturbed.”  – John Kelly, former research director of Audubon Canyon Ranch