Begin forwarded message: From: Ellen Paul <[email protected]> Date: July 15, 2005 11:33:01 AM CDT To: [email protected] Subject: Ornithologists and birds in the [worrisome] news Reply-To: "ORNITH-L: the scientific discussion of Ornithology" <[email protected]>
Pelican die-offs in South Dakota; increased seabird mortality on both coasts. Ellen Paul Executive Director The Ornithological Council Mailto:[email protected] Ornithological Council Website: http://www.nmnh.si.edu/BIRDNET "Providing Scientific Information about Birds" July 13, 2005 Scientists Raise Alarm About Ocean Health By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Filed at 9:50 p.m. ET SEATTLE (AP) -- With a record number of dead seabirds washing up on West Coast beaches from Central California to British Columbia, marine biologists are raising the alarm about rising ocean temperatures and dwindling plankton populations. ''Something big is going on out there,'' said Julia Parrish, an associate professor in the School of Aquatic Fisheries and Sciences at the University of Washington. ''I'm left with no obvious smoking gun, but birds are a good signal because they feed high up on the food chain.'' Coastal ocean temperatures are 2 to 5 degrees above normal, which may be related to a lack of updwelling, in which cold, nutrient-rich water is brought to the surface. Updwelling is fueled by northerly winds that sweep out near-shore waters and bring cold water to the surface. The process starts the marine food chain, fueling algae and shrimplike krill populations that feed small fish, which then provide a source of food for a variety of sea life from salmon to sea birds and marine mammals. On Washington beaches, bird surveyors in May typically find an average of one dead Brandt's cormorant every 34 miles of beach. This year, cormorant deaths averaged one every eight-tenths of a mile, according to data gathered by volunteers with the Coastal Observation and Seabird Survey Team, which Parrish has directed since 2000. ''This is somewhere between five and 10 times the highest number of bird deaths we've seen before,'' she said, adding that she expected June figures to show a similar trend. This spring's cool, wet weather brought southwesterly wind to coastal areas and very little northerly wind, said Nathan Mantua, a research scientist with the Climate Impacts Group at the University of Washington. Without northerly winds, there is no updwelling and plankton stay at lower depths. ''In 50 years, this has never happened,'' said Bill Peterson, an oceanographer with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in Newport, Ore. ''If this continues, we will have a food chain that is basically impoverished from the very lowest levels.'' Problems at the bottom of the food chain could also be related to decreases in juvenile salmon populations this summer. NOAA's June and July surveys of juvenile salmon off the coasts of Oregon, Washington and British Columbia indicate a 20 percent to 30 percent drop in populations, compared with surveys from 1998-2004. ''We don't really know that this will cause bad returns. The runs this year haven't been horrible, but below average,'' said Ed Casillas, program manager of Estuarine and Ocean Ecology at NOAA's Northwest Fisheries Science Center in Seattle. Scientists tracking anomolies along Washington's coast reported the appearance of warm-water plankton species and scores of jellyfish piling up on beaches. A Guadalupe fur seal, native to South America, was found dead in Ocean Shores. Parrish and a scientist near San Francisco report changes in bird breeding. Both said starvation stress could be the cause for decreased breeding and increased bird deaths. Peterson, the NOAA oceanographer, said many scientists suspect climate change may be involved. ''People have to realize that things are connected -- the state of coastal temperatures and plankton populations are connected to larger issues like Pacific salmon populations,'' he said. Parrish cautioned that human activity could jeopardize the survival of animals already stressed by environmental changes. ''This, for instance, would be a truly bad year for an oil spill,'' she said. July 13, 2005 Officials Investigating Pelican Deaths By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Filed at 1:32 p.m. ET BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) -- The Fish and Wildlife Service is investigating the deaths of thousands of young white pelicans at a wildlife refuge in central North Dakota, a year after thousands of adult birds abruptly left the same location. At least 8,000 chicks may have died over the past two months, said Ken Torkelson, a spokesman for the Chase Lake National Wildlife Refuge. ''The difference is, last year the adults left first,'' he said. ''This year, the young have died and the adults have no reason to stick around.'' Severe storms or a disease outbreak may have caused the mass die-off, said Marsha Sovada, a biologist at the U.S. Geological Survey's Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center in Jamestown. The Fish and Wildlife Service said an inspection of the refuge last week indicated only about 500 chicks left from a nesting period that could have produced as many as 9,000 of them. All but about 2,000 adults had left, from a population estimated at 18,850 in late May. Officials had hoped the refuge would return to normal after nearly 30,000 adult pelicans took off last year, leaving their young behind. Officials still can't determine what caused last year's exodus. The white pelican, one of the largest birds in North America, breeds only once a year, and males and females take turns caring for their young. The birds have a wingspan of nearly 10 feet and live about 25 years. The white pelican colony at the 4,385-acre Chase Lake National Wildlife Refuge north of Medina has been the largest in North America, peaking at 35,466 birds in 2000. The pelicans normally stay at the Chase Lake refuge through September, raising their young and feasting on crawfish, small fish and foot-long salamanders from small ponds known as prairie potholes. Samples have been sent to the National Wildlife Health Center in Madison, Wis., to try to find out what killed the young birds at Chase Lake. The chicks that remain at the refuge are still being cared for by adults, Torkelson said. The chicks remaining at the refuge appear to be healthy, Sovada said. Biologists have attached backpack-like electronic tracking equipment to eight pelicans to monitor their movements when they leave the colony, and plan to fit two more with the equipment. Sovada said large die-offs of pelican chicks also have been reported this week at Medicine Lake National Wildlife Refuge in northeast Montana and at Waubay National Wildlife Refuge in northeast South Dakota. ''It could have no relation to what's happening at Chase Lake,'' she said. The West Nile virus likely is to blame for the chick deaths in Montana and South Dakota, Sovada said. Other pelican nesting colonies have had high chick mortality rates in the past three years, Torkelson said.
