3 Firms, 6 Workers Cited in Bird Deaths

City prosecutors filed multiple charges Tuesday against two out-of-state companies, a Van Nuys landscaping firm and six employees for allegedly killing protected birds and destroying their San Fernando Valley nesting sites.

Chicago-based Equity Residential Trust and CSI Services Inc. of Dallas each face six counts of allegedly killing cliff swallows and destroying their nests while power-washing a Chatsworth condominium complex, Los Angeles City Atty. James Hahn said.

Property manager Scott Lawson and CSI employees Juan Carlos Morales, 21; Juan Ruiz Aranda, 36, and Francisco Cardona Rodriguez, 32, were also charged with violations that allegedly occurred between April 28 and May 14 at the Summerset Village condominium complex, Hahn said.

Each count potentially carries a maximum of six months in jail and a $1,000 fine.

Prosecutors said a state Department of Fish and Game warden who went to Summerset Village after receiving a complaint from a resident found nest mud, grasses, feathers, broken egg shells and dead birds on the ground around several of the buildings. The warden said she saw mud outlines along the walls and eaves of buildings where nests had been.

All told, the warden said that 28 buildings had evidence of swallow nesting activity and that 11 nests and their contents were destroyed during the washing.

Separately, TopNotch Tree & Land operator Bruce Howard, 40, and an employee were charged with one count of killing a red-tailed hawk and destroying its nest in May as they trimmed a large eucalyptus in the 4000 block of Milaca Place in Sherman Oaks.

In a 1997 case, prosecutors said TopNotch pleaded no contest to one count of destroying the nest of a bird of prey. The company was ordered to pay a $2,505 fine, and its owner and employees attend a wildlife awareness program.