IN THE PIPELINE:

Recently, I saw a magazine ad for the Brightwater housing development. The headline read, “Rolling waves. Coastal breezes. Native wetlands.” Perhaps now it should also include “Dead birds.”

You may know that Brightwater is the complex taking shape on the mesa at the Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve. For years, concerned environmentalists battled the development in defense of the wetlands. Though they (miraculously) succeeded in knocking down the 5,000-plus homes originally proposed for the area down to 356, many of the folks who fought the project still resent what is happening high on the hill. They, along with many others, fear what the impact will be at Bolsa Chica in several years once all the homes have popped up. Little did they know they wouldn’t have to wait that long.

Connie Boardman (a Professor of Biology at Cerritos College and former mayor of Huntington Beach) discovered four dead birds Nov. 18 while walking the trail adjacent to Brightwater (a female northern harrier, yellow rumped warbler, male Anna’s hummingbird, and a mourning dove). She and a friend also found the remains of a hawk, the second hawk death they’d heard about there. What exactly killed the birds? They’d slammed into a six-foot-high, 4,400-foot-long glass wall that was installed in August, enclosing the perimeter of the housing development (the wall looks similar to what you see at hockey games). Fish and Game was contacted, as was Ed Mountford, a Brightwater/Hearthside Homes senior vice-president.

Word spread fast about the deaths — and the wall. How was a 4,400-foot wall of glass erected in an area as environmentally sensitive (and subject to heavy bird traffic) as Bolsa Chica? You’d have to ask the California Coastal Commission, which approved the wall along with the 356-home project in April 2005. Did the commissioners not know that birds cannot see clear glass? Or that a glass wall essentially creates a nearly mile-long deathtrap for birds?

Early last Saturday morning, in the warm breeze against a bright blue sky, Scott Thomas, conservation director of Sea & Sage Audubon Society, led a walk along the wall. His purpose was to define the problems the wall presents, talk about potential solutions, encourage involvement and monitoring of the area and of course, to look at some birds. About 45 of us turned out and it was a positive convergence of mutual concern, cut with equal doses of venting and frustration. The “Wall of Death” as some in the crowd had labeled it, now had a chain-link fence with yellow sporadic flags fluttering in the breeze — it had been erected the day before in response to the outcry over the death of the birds. A temporary solution at best, but still, a reaction to the tumult.

Mr. Thomas was glad to see at least a step had been taken to help ease the obvious problem, but he acknowledges it is only temporary. He’s heard that Brightwater thinks that once the houses are built in three years, the wall will no longer be a problem. And he disagrees. “That won’t fix it, it needs a different kind of barrier, perhaps a fence, or decals on the glass at least.” He pauses before adding, “It seems amazing to me that perhaps the most important ecological reserve in California could have a 4,400-foot glass wall put up around it. There’s too much evidence of how much harm it can do.”

And he’s right. In fact, as I sat writing this article, a network news show on TV reported that due to the growing number of birds flying into glass-coated buildings, architects are being urged to take regional bird populations into consideration when designing structures. Ornithologist Daniel Klem estimated that between 100 million to 1 billion birds die in the United States each year in collisions with glass.

Also on the walk was local resident Jeff Rokos. In addition to his dismay at the glass wall, he brought up the point that at a time when Huntington Beach might actually be able to attract tourists who enjoy birding; this controversy would make a laughingstock out of the premise. Someone else noted that while Brightwater uses the area in its marketing materials, touting that dwellers can enjoy the “restful ambience of the Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve,” now they’ve done something that actually helps destroy the balance of nature.

Marinka Horack, a retired teacher and member of the Bolsa Chica Land Trust, was also on the walk. “Everyone will be watching this closely,” she said. “It is a problem and too many creatures are already getting boxed out with the development. Now this?” On the walk, Scott Thomas pointed out red-tailed hawk, osprey, American kestrel, merlin, northern harrier, a flock of western meadowlarks, black phoebes, flycatchers, belted kingfisher, sparrows, ravens, crows, a Canada goose — and one is reminded how vital this shrinking spot is.

I spoke with Ed Mountford at Hearthside. He told me that this week brown canvases were to be draped over the fence to create a “backdrop” so that the birds could avoid the crystal clear glass. He also said he believed once the houses were built in three years, the problem would be solved, and added that he felt the situation was “Being blown way out of proportion.” (Hearthside will also have inspectors patrol the area three times daily to keep a log of all dead birds discovered.)

Fine, steps are being taken. But I think this one has a ways to go. It may help define how other places are built within nature. It may become a much bigger controversy if birds continue to die. But I keep asking myself — why did they build a 4,400-foot glass wall in a sensitive area with hundreds of thousands of birds? So homeowners can see the ocean a little better?

Just what are those views worth?

Thoughts on the “Wall of Death”? Post it In The Pipeline, www.hbindependent.com/ columns.

Chris Epting will sign all of his books (including Images of America – Huntington Beach) at Barnes & Noble at Bella Terra at 7 p.m. Dec. 6. Get someone a signed book this holiday!

•CHRIS EPTING is the author of nine books including his latest, “Led Zeppelin Crashed Here, The Rock and Roll Landmarks of North America.” He also hosts “The Pop Culture Road Trip” radio show on webtalkradio.net.