Four Indian laurel ficus trees ring a vacant lot at 12th and Harrison streets in downtown Oakland. During breeding season they hold nearly 100 nests of black-crowned night herons and snowy egrets, the largest urban rookery in the city, CBS News Bay Area reported. Coyote Media counted 81 heron nests in those four trees and three trees across the street, or 66% of the nests counted in Oakland in 2026.

The lot is the planned site of an affordable housing building at 285 12th St. Ryan Nakano of the Golden Gate Bird Alliance told CBS: "I believe that the plan is to remove these four trees."

The housing

The developer is the nonprofit East Bay Asian Local Development Corporation (EBALDC). Coyote Media describes a 65-unit building of studios, one-bedroom and two-bedroom apartments for people earning 30% to 60% of area median income, which it put at as little as $35,650 a year. Some units are set aside for people leaving homelessness, and the site is about a five-minute walk from the 12th Street BART station.

EBALDC says the project won a $35.9 million state Affordable Housing and Sustainable Communities award, applied for jointly with the City of Oakland. The nonprofit lists 64 affordable homes, 13 of them for people exiting homelessness, and $8.26 million in city Measure U money. EBALDC declined CBS's interview request and referred questions to the city.

Why the trees are a problem anyway

Ficus roots crack sidewalks, and the birds are loud and messy. Every season chicks and fledglings fall onto the concrete, CBS reported. The Oakland Zoo runs a heron rescue team that patrols downtown for injured birds, and many of them go to International Bird Rescue's center in Fairfield. Its CEO, JD Bergeron, told CBS: "To be honest i think it's probably a positive thing if those trees eventually come down."

The city shared a report from the consultants H.T. Harvey & Associates, who were hired to coax the colony toward Lake Merritt using decoys, transplanted empty nests and recorded calls. According to CBS, the effort ran over two breeding seasons and did not succeed. Coyote Media notes the herons are Oakland's official bird because Park Day School third graders campaigned for it in 2017.

What's next

Coyote Media reported that ground is expected to break on the lot later this year. So far no plan has been made public that would keep both the trees and the building.