Seabird die-off on the Pacific coast

“Mind-blowing” die off of seabirds underway from California to Alaska

• Experts: “This is unprecedented… Worst I’ve ever seen… Why they’re dying, I’m still baffled” “Every bird we’re seeing is starving to death… Basically withering away”
• “Catastrophic molting” due to unknown cause

ENENews,

15 October, 2015

San Francisco Chronicle, Oct 15, 2015 (emphasis added): [T]housands of common murres… have been found dead… “all signs point to starvation from a lack of forage fish,” [Marine ecologist Kirsten Lindquist] said, adding that the same problem has been documented along the Oregon, Washington and Alaska coastlines… many endemic marine birds and mammals are suffering.

International Bird Rescue, Sep 22, 2015: An unprecedented number of exhausted, hungry seabirds continue to flood International Bird Rescue’s San Francisco Bay Center… The sight of so many starving seabirds has raised red flags among seabird scientists…

Santa Cruz Sentinel, Sep 25, 2015: A troubling number of starved and weak seabirds are washing ashore on beaches from the Monterey Bay to Alaska… “There’s been die-offs in the past, but this is one of the worst ones I’ve ever seen,” said Lupin Egan, an animal technician… “it’s been really crazy,” said spokesman Russ Curtis. “They’re really sick — just feather and bone.”… “At Waddell and Greyhound (Rock) beaches, I saw the most murres I’ve ever seen in 10 years,” said Cori Gibble, seabird health coordinator with the UC Davis Wildlife Health Center in Santa Cruz. “You see them on the tide line. They’re kind of strewn all over the beaches… It’s been a really strange year“…

ABC San Francisco, Sep 22, 2015: The number of birds being delivered to the rescue center daily is the number that usually comes over the entirety of a month, center officials said. “The sheer number of birds we’re seeing is pretty mind-blowing“… Curtis said. “This is unprecedented. Sometimes we get spikes and it dissipates. But it has not stopped.”

Sacramento Bee, Sep 24, 2015: Rescue center overwhelmed with starving seabirds… Fairfield rescue center has seen 25 times more common murres than normal… Across Northern California… malnourished seabirds have been appearing in alarming numbers, some shrunken to little more than feather and bone… The murres’ presence is significant to scientists because they’re considered a marker species, whose movements and numbers signal changes in the ocean’s food supply… “Our gut tells us there is something going on in the marine environment.”… Some of the birds that are being brought into the center are showing symptoms of catastrophic molting, where large patches of their bodies are missing feathers, said Kelly Berry, wildlife manager with the center. The cause is unknown…

Santa Cruz Sentinel, Sep 2, 2015: A huge influx of weak, starving seabirds have been overwhelming a Fairfield bird rescue center… “They’re like the canaries in the coal mines,” Curtis said… “the first ones to tell us if… there’s something wrong with our environment.”

KTVU, Sep 25 2015: Up and down the West Coast, thousands of starving sea birds are washing up… [The murres] resemble penguins, but can fly… “They are washing up extremely skinny… They’re starving to death,” lead rehabilitation technician Isabel Luevano told KTVU… “they’re basically withering away“… More heron and egret hatchlings have needed care this summer as well…

Half Moon Bay Review, Sep 30, 2015: [T]he magnitude of and reason for this die-off is perplexing to experts… [Gerry McChesney, of the Farallon National Wildlife Refuge said] “we’ve had a strip of cold water near the coast (of Half Moon Bay), concentrating anchovies and mackerel. With what seems to be all this food up against the coast, why these murres are dying, I’m still baffled by.”

Daily Astorian, Aug 25, 2015: “There’s a pretty raging debate among seabird biologists at the moment,” [Julia Parish of the U. of Washington] added…“Every bird we’re seeing is starving to death,” [Josh Saranpaa, of the Wildlife Center of the North Coast] said. “It’s pretty bad.” Many are adults… The high number of starving adults along the North Coast, even experienced scavenger birds, indicates a “serious sign of a stressed ecosystem,” Parish said… “When you see so many starving, something is not quite right out there,” Saranpaa said… It’s also “been a really odd year,” Parish said, with multiple regional scale events…

KMXT (Alaska), Sep 16, 2015: Massive seabird die-off hits Kodiak… [National Wildlife Refuge bird biologist Robin Corcoran] said she doesn’t know what could have caused the deaths.

KMXT, Sep 15, 2015: “It does look like the birds are emaciated, which means they don’t have any fat on their bodies, and they don’t have any food in their digestive systems“… [Corcoran] says it could be connected to the whale die-offs, and they’ll be considering environmental factors… Corcoran says the Refuge’s survey data has also indicated that several other bird species’ numbers have declined…

Watch video from International Bird Rescue here