Around this time last year, the U.S. Postal Service's Oakland outpost had a poop problem. Their entire fleet of mail trucks was covered in it, all the time. The culprits were Snowy Egrets and Black-crowned Night-Herons nesting in the trees above the parking lot. The solution—in some nameless, faceless bureaucrat's eyes—was to have the trees trimmed. It's a federal offense to destroy a migratory bird's nest. But Ernesto Pulido, the tree trimmer hired for the job, says he thought it was just a normal gig. He had no idea there were birds present when his crew arrived, wood chipper in tow, and set to work. Then five little herons fell from the trees and ignited a media firestorm. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said it might fine or press criminal charges against Pulido; then a local congressman got involved to open an inquiry into the Fish and Wildlife Service. The hatchlings were fine in the end—raised by International Bird Rescue and eventually released near the...