Seabirds mysteriously dying off Oregon

[icymist]

Seabirds mysteriously dying off Oregon
By The Associated Press


BANDON, Ore. — Hundreds of the seabirds known as rhinoceros auklets have washed up on the southern Oregon coast, and scientists haven't settled on an explanation for their deaths.

The birds seem to be in good shape off California and Washington, a researcher said.

"The questions in my mind are: Is this something that's widespread in Oregon? Is it a freak event like a storm, or something that's going to last longer?" said seabird researcher Julia Parrish, an associate professor of biology at the University of Washington.

(More)
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2002878786_auklets21m.html

What's causing these seabirds to die at this rate just in Oregon? The article suggests an isolated storm, except that all the storms we've had out here in the past few months have been large enough to engulf Washington state and BC, where the majority of this particular bird lives. Maybe this is a localized pollution, but then, would not other species be affected? The other question on my mind: A form of avian virus?

[Whoa_Nelly]

1. Is there something being released, such as a gas, from the ocean floor

due to the Cascadian fault?

[icymist]

6. Now there's a thought.

That is the area where the Cascadia subduction zone begins (just highlighted on the Discovery Channel last Sunday) but, would not such a release affect other marine life?

[Gidney N Cloyd]

2. We had something like this around Chicago.

Turned out the dead gulls, which were dying inland, were mostly young birds who were searching outside their normal areas for food but didn't have the fat stores built up yet to fly all the way back home.

[elfin]

3. Tested for bird flu?? eom

[phantom power]

11. This isn't flu. It's mass starvation caused by climate change.

The ocean ecosystems are collapsing, mostly due to temperature changes. Sea bird populations that eat fish are now starving. It's happening in the British Isles as well.

However, avian flu is expected to enter north america next fall, via migrating bird populations.

[puerco-bellies]

4. Their breeding range extends to Asia

Don't know if the populations are in contact though.

http://www.birds.cornell.edu/programs/AllAboutBirds/BirdGuide/Rhinoceros_Auklet_dtl.html

[Kagemusha]

5. I hate to break it to people but birds die of natural causes, too.

Nature's a rough place, and sometimes nature delivers harsh lessons to life forms other than us with absolutely no help from mankind. Sometimes we will search for a reason to blame ourselves in vain.

[icymist]

7. An increase of the ratios of finding dead seabirds, let alone this one...

type of seabird, from 8 per mile (California to BC) to 20 to 30 per mile (Oregon alone) raises these questions. Yes, nature delivers some harsh lessons as you say and this may very well be natural, but the questions remain: Why this one species? Why only in this area where the general population of that species is much further north? Solely because creatures die naturally in the wild is no reason to ignore the mystery.

edit for spelling

[Kagemusha]

8. I'm emphatically for learning from nature. That's real science.

But I'm saying that a die-off in birds of one particular species in an area that is not the main region to which it has adapted and evolved is really frankly not that rare an event in nature. It's not everyday, but these things do happen. As long as the species itself survives, nature has built in tolerance for such losses from any number of sources. Which in no way negates the scientific value of determining what that source is.

[puerco-bellies]

10. The area where the birds were found IS their primary habitat.

Some things to consider is that these birds feed in the same way that other sea birds (Muir's, puffins) feed, in the same area, under the same conditions. This implies that a common food source (possible red-tide contamination) is not the cause. There is some truth in old saw that "birds of a feather flock together". This implies that these animals have closer and more frequent interactions with their own species, then with other birds sharing the same range. These creatures are social (community rookeries) so that a single individual can come into close inter-species contact with many others who each contact still others, so a good case can be made that a contagious agent could be a possible cause.

For arguments sake a much weaker possible factor could be the coriolis force; waters traveling north along the Asain coast, then south down the North American coast. Again I don't know if there is occasional "cross-over" from one population (i.e. Western U.S.) from another (East Asian coastal areas), but currents could assist individuals crossing east to west.

[Kagemusha]

12. Seems what I took from another post was slightly inaccurate

Anyway, my overwhelming point is that while death itself happens in nature, someone really should find out what happened here. We just shouldn't be shocked if it's something completely natural.

[rman]

13. Large scale viral infection would be natural,

but worrysome nonetheless.

As far as i can tell no-one in this thread has suggested the cause is unnatural.

[The Backlash Cometh]

9. Isn't the bird flu suppose to come in through migratory birds from that

general direction? Though I'm mystified why it didn't hit Washington first, or Alaska.