First Pelicans, Now Terns - Bird Dieoffs Continuing Along West Coast - ENN

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LONG BEACH, Calif. — Bird rescuers are trying to figure out what caused dozens of dead and sickly baby terns to wash up suddenly on the beaches here. Rescuers with the International Bird Rescue Research Center in San Pedro collected the bodies of about 200 Caspian and elegant terns -- all of them babies -- after getting calls from lifeguards at the beach near Los Angeles earlier Wednesday, said Christina Verduzco, a wildlife rehabilitator.

The birds were all about a month old and many hadn't even grown feathers yet, she said. The team also found 10 living terns, she said.

Verduzco said rescuers discovered an abandoned barge Wednesday about 2 miles (3 kilometers) off the coast that was home to hundreds of tern nests. She said they now believe something -- a loud noise or the intense heat -- scared the chicks out of their nests and into the water, where they couldn't swim.

"That is the closest source that we know of. We don't know what made them jump the barge, but more than likely that's where they came from," she said. "They don't even have their flight feathers in, they're all shaft, so there's no way these could survive in the water."

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