International Bird Rescue, a U.S.-based aquatic bird rescue group, is asking for help in caring for nearly 100 baby snowy egrets and black-crowned night herons after their home, an old ficus tree, split in half and partially fell last week in downtown Oakland in California.

The group is caring for 89 young birds and eggs it rescued from the tree. It also rescued 17 eggs that need intensive care and round-the-clock support. Another 20 birds died when the tree fell.

The rescue group was already taking care of more than 200 Bay Area aquatic birds at its busy hospital in the city of Fairfield.

The birds, which breed in groups, started nesting in the massive and old leafy ficus trees in downtown Oakland about 10 years ago.

Wildlife protection groups are working to get the egrets and herons to nest in Oakland's Lake Merritt, where there are more sturdy trees and not as much concrete.

Biologists have placed speakers in Lake Merritt trees that broadcast the sounds of a breeding colony along with decoys of herons and egrets and nests left over from other breeding seasons to get the birds to raise their chicks there.

(Cover image: Screenshot)

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