Home Brentwood Brentwood: Dream Home Becomes Nightmare After Birds Overtake Tree

Brentwood: Dream Home Becomes Nightmare After Birds Overtake Tree

by ECT

A Brentwood family says a lack of action by the City of Brentwood has resulted in birds taking over their home and destroying their yard because of a tree overtaken by birds.

According to Brian and Danielle Witrykus, residents of a home on Crossridge Court next to Bristow Middle School, more than 24 Egrets and Blue Heron birds are now living in a tree along a trail next to their home.

The tree has now become so overgrown, that its now pushing the fence line, the tree is up against their home and branches hanging over their roof.

More than 24 birds are sitting in a tree over the home

The city says there is nothing they can do at this time until the birds move on because the birds are protected.

“The tree currently has an active Heron Rookery Nest.  These birds are protected by Federal Law under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act (MBTA) and in addition, the City must follow regulatory compliance measures to adhere to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) codes.  The City is actively monitoring the nest and working with an Avian Biologist as well as the CDFW on this process.   The City is also keeping the resident informed and has taken measures to clean up the area under the tree.  Once the birds have migrated and left the nest the City will work with the CDFW on a mitigation solution,” Bruce Mulder, Director of Parks & Recreation

The Witrykus argue that Brentwood was contacted long before the birds became a problem and didn’t handle the situation properly which has now resulted in their yard being covered in poop, feathers, dead birds, dead fish along with an odor.

Danielle Witrykus explained how because the birds are protected, they were told by the city they could not even remove feathers in their yard or have the city clean up the backyard. Instead, they had to get permission from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife—they were also told they could do nothing to disturb the birds.

If they are caught with feathers or cleaning, they could be facing a fine from the State. The Witrykus’ say they feel like prisoners in their own home.

“For the first two years, the home had had been awesome, we were using our backyard for barbecues, parties, the kids loved it, last year this tree in our backyard was starting to grow onto our roof and asked the city to trim the tree, the city did come out and trim it. But it was not enough and still too close to our home. They said they were going to return and never did,” explained Danielle Witrykus

A tree has pushed the fence line in the front of their home

The Witrykuss say the tree grew back and the roots from the trees began causing their home to shift.

“The foundation, the fence line has moved and is shifting, some of our doors were not shutting all the way because everything was being brought up,” said Brian Witrykus. “These trees have to go because they are destroying our house.”

According to Witrykus the city came out in early March to determine if they were going to cut the trees or not which is when the birds were discovered, however, at that time there were no nests.

“They said they were not going to do anything until the birds have left in September,” said Witrykus. “We said okay we would wait but what started out as a couple birds hanging out turned into more than 24-birds flying into a tree).

They explained how multiple types of birds in the tree who are evening bringing fish over to feed and leaving the bodies in the yard.

“We started making calls to the city in July and sending out emails, by this time our backyard was destroyed,” said Witrykus.

The yard is covered in bird waste while the birds have caused the grass to be destroyed, plants and vegetation have died, windows are covered in poop, feathers are everywhere, dead fish and dead birds are left in the yard.  The neighboring residents are also dealing with foul smell causing them to not be able to open their windows and increased their electric bill for having to run the air conditioner.  They are concerned for the health of their family.

Along the trail, a total of 6 dead birds and 4 dead fish were counted as the ground was covered in poop.

The trail along the home is also covered in the same way.

“We have to keep the shades down because of poop and feathers on the windows, it’s embarrassing,” said Witrykus. “It is embarrassing to have people over because of the smell.”

Even other neighbors have begun to notice the birds and smell, some of their neighbors have noticed birds going into their trees.

“At night, it’s like the wild kingdom as you hear them fighting, screaming all night. You hear bird screeching at night,” explained Witrykus. “It echoes off our house and sounds like someone running across the roof. The tree is also rubbing against our house when its windy.”

The Witrykus say they originally moved to Brentwood after living in Castro Valley because of the schools and called Brentwood an amazing community.

“You can tell they have pride in their town, everything is kept up, the gardening they do you can see the sense of pride, the safety and the school zones, it’s all a sense of pride. When we were looking, we were looking at San Ramon, Danville and Brentwood and they were all the same, it was such a sense of community here which is why we chose Brentwood,” explained Witrykus.

They also explained how they tried not to be a nuisance to the city and tried to solve it at the very lowest level from Brentwood Parks and Recreation because of the trail and they maintain the trees. They also reached out to the health department because they were concerned about their health.

When they reached out to the city, they provided a response along the lines of how it was an annoyance for the family but they had to wait until September for the birds to leave.

“That was unacceptable for me, I was dealing with the City of Brentwood through email just to have the accountability. No this is not a mere annoyance because my home is being destroyed and this is a health concern for my family,” explained Witrykus. “I was passed over to another person and it was the same push back and told there was nothing we could do and had to wait.”

She called the Department of California Fish and Game, Wildlife organizations, trying to figure this out.

“I get that these birds should be protected, but my family and home should also be protected. I can’t compromise this. There are things that can be done, but the city needs to do this. I kept emailing the city and they need to take action.”

Witrykus admits this sounds crazy but people really need to see it to believe it. Witrykus says she has spoken to the Mayor and he has been helpful.

“I believe the mayor has shown interest in wanting to fix this, as soon as he got involved, he has been on our side and it’s been a blessing,” said Witrykus. “We are not getting anything back from the departments and they have stopped responding, but the mayor has been responsive.”

This is their yard after the city cleanup, still covered in feathers, dead birds, dead fish.

Mayor Bob Taylor admitted he would never have believed their story had he not seen it with his own eyes.

“The sad part about it, these are wonderful people. I am perplexed about this, I wouldn’t want this for my family and I guarantee nobody else would want this on their family. What is amazing to me is they are living in that, they have little children. It’s truly a health hazard. I am in a quandary about this, I’ve gone back to our people and we tried to clean it up, but the birds are protected and they can’t even pick up the feathers.” said Taylor. “No one should be confined to their home like this because this is their life. What is sad is I don’t know what I can do at this point to help them.”

Brian Witrykus says the ultimate goal is to have the tree removed, but they are left with a backyard that is destroyed, uninhabitable, two sides of their home covered in poop and fences that are destroyed.

“We made contact with the City to have this taken care of before it got this bad, it didn’t have to go this far. We take care of our house and our house didn’t look like this until the birds showed up,” explained Witrykus. “We caught it in the beginning and since there wasn’t much help on Brentwood side, they blew us off and it escalated quickly and it destroyed our home.”

The said the tree is on Brentwood property and they need to take care of this.

“We also want an evaluation into the health hazards that our family could potentially be facing,” added Witrykus. “We would like the roof and foundation to be assessed. The city should take care of that. Its fair to the point that we asked for help before it went to this and they didn’t help. I get it, if let it go and then make the claims, we should be blown off, but that didn’t happen, we were in contact with them throughout this situation with the birds and tree.”

The Witrykus say they are still waiting on Fish and Wildlife to come observe the tree because even if the birds leave, they still have to get approval because it’s protected.

For now, the Witrykus’ are stuck waiting for answers and the birds to move along for the winter.

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7 comments

Jim Simmons Sep 15, 2017 - 11:47 am

Brentwood should be forced to tear down the tree, fix the fences and provide funding to fix the backyard. This was their fault and a circumstance no one could have predicted. Brentwood City Council should admit the error and make it right.

I don’t think this is a case of people asking for something unreasonable to correct an error.

Karen Sep 15, 2017 - 12:00 pm

Kids walk a trail full of dead birds, dead fish, and poop and its allow because birds are protected? Sorry but humans come first. Brentwood, do your job and fix this and where is the school district ensuring safe roads and trails to school???? Unbelievable!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I agree with the above comment that Brentwood should make it right because the city messed up.

Simonpure Sep 15, 2017 - 12:25 pm

Just tell the birds to get the flock outta here.

American Sep 15, 2017 - 12:41 pm

Eggactly, get the flock outta there. This is poopausteraus. The should fly their fecal fodder far away from forbidden forest filled yards.

Kimberly Sep 15, 2017 - 5:58 pm

I agree with you Jim Simmons. Brentwood needs to correct this issue entirely. Cut down those trees, replace the fence, wash the house, and restore the yard.

What kind of message is Brentwood sending when they put the rights of birds and trees over the rights and health of this family. It sounds like this issue is spreading throughout the neighborhood so if they don’t take care of it now it could end up becoming an even bigger problem down the road. I feel so bad for this family being treated with such indifference.

Barbara Sep 15, 2017 - 10:23 pm

These are probably the exact same birds that migrated from our neighbor’s yard less than a mile away. They nested there for two years, wreaking havoc from March to September. It was a shame, but the neighbors had to cut down a couple beautiful trees to prevent the birds from returning to nest this past spring. But it appears that they just found another nearby tree. These folks are NOT exaggerating about the health risk the birds pose. And the mess and smell is putrid! At least the Witrykus’ have some recourse for the expense, since the tree is on city property. Our neighbor had to foot the costs themselves for not only the cutting of the trees, but the clean-up. I’m not sure what the answer is, because it is obvious that cutting the tree down just sends the birds to another yard. I’m curious to see what the city proposes as a solution.

Nick Sep 16, 2017 - 12:42 pm

Instead of going through all this crap, I’d just have the tree removed myself. Paying for the tree removal and dealing with the consequences if it’s not my tree is easier than all this. Do I know why the city is ignoring this? It’s NOT a priority to the city of Brentwood – and they couldn’t care less.

The city of Brentwood did screw up, and they should make it right. I’d still have the tree removed myself. If Plan A doesn’t work, I go with Plan B. I do it all the time, and let the chips fall where they may. I can’t be controlled.

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