‘It Was Eviscerated’: On This Quiet East Bay Street, Birds Keep Dropping Dead

In the quiet, hilly neighborhood of East Richmond Heights, a small group of neighbors is gathered to discuss the downy dead.

“We are a tight neighborhood, but this has brought us even closer because it’s just scary,” Max Bolling says.

On his phone, Bolling has pictures of about a dozen bird casualties, mostly small: bluebirds, doves. Many have dropped dead in his Bernhard Avenue yard, which lies under a web of PG&E lines strung from tall poles in this unincorporated area nestled between the bay and Wildcat Canyon Regional Park.

Some of the birds have obvious wounds; one is missing a head. Neighbors say they’ve found about 50 dead birds in recent weeks.

Mark Hoehner says he’s seen three fall from the tallest power line above.

The sound was “like an electronic crack,” Hoehner says, “and it was most definitely — I don’t know why people want to think it’s a shooter from way down there — because the sound is absolutely coming from up there.”

PG&E sent two of the dead birds, a mourning dove and a European starling, to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, which says its necropsies showed signs of trauma but not electrocution. Though the exact cause of death could not be determined, officials say a BB gun or a slingshot could have caused the injuries.

Still, neighbors aren’t buying it. They have a healthy dose of skepticism for PG&E; some say they’ve heard the power lines sizzle when the air is moist, such as in the morning fog.

That raises worries about more than just the local avian wildlife.

“We are in a fire danger [area]; the canyon is right there,” Cindy Kupka says. “Why can’t they just come out and fix it? … Yeah, it seems to me like they’re just lying about it.”

In a statement on Wednesday, PG&E spokesperson Tamar Sarkissian said the utility does not believe that there is an issue with its electrical equipment, adding that “the pole at issue is compliant with avian safe guidance, as established by the Avian Powerline Interaction Committee.”

If there is one thing that has spread like wildfire so far, it’s the story itself, a provincial whodunnit that was first covered by ABC7 and has since garnered write-ups in national outposts like People and Newsweek.

“Part of it makes me feel like they’re laughing at California,” says Bolling. His neighbors quickly console him.

“I think people that care about animals do not think that,” says neighbor Sharon Anderson, who recalls her own disturbing experience. While walking her dog recently, Anderson says, she came across two Contra Costa County sheriff’s deputies investigating the scene.

“A second later, I heard this pop [that] sounded like a firecracker. And boom, out of the sky, this bird fell off the wire,” she says. “And I saw the sheriff run over to the bird, and I remember her saying it was eviscerated.”

The deputy collected the bird, but neighbors say they don’t know whether it was analyzed. The Contra Costa County Sheriff’s Office did not respond to a request for comment.

From his nearby office, County Supervisor John Gioia says he intends to keep his eye on the case.

“We dealt with the dead whale that was washed ashore on a beach in Point Richmond, and now, here on the other side of West County, we’re dealing with a large number of dead birds,” Gioia says. “And in both cases, [the] public’s always really concerned about a dead whale, dead birds, dead animals, and understandably, we want to understand what’s causing it and stop it.”

Back on Bernhard Avenue, a California Fish and Wildlife truck pulls up as the neighbors continue to talk. An officer, who did not want to be interviewed, begins to take stock of the scene, scattered feathers and all, and chat with residents.

“I just … just want it solved. It’s just a feeling of exhaustion and frustration,” Bolling says. “If it was in the middle of July — a bird and it’s sparking? — it’ll just light up like that. We just want it fixed.”