Heliobas Disciple
TB Fanatic
It makes sense. Birds eat the fish.
Some theorize it's the red tide. Some of it is blamed on dead fish. Some on warmer ocean temps. Some aren't really sure why the birds are dying.
And this doesn't count the scores (pages and pages) of articles on birds dead due to West Nile or the bird flu.
These are the other articles. The ones where the birds are dying and they're not always so sure why.
Articles are in this order: first Florida. Then northern NY and the great lakes. Then the west coast. Then a quick reminder of the dead zone article from Oregon.
http://www.baynews9.com/content/36/2005/8/23/114535.html
(fair use applies)
New victims of red tide
Tuesday, August 23, 2005
First it was the fish. Then the turtles and dolphins. Now birds are apparently falling prey to red tide.
The birds appear to somehow be ingesting the toxin and getting sick or dying.
Experts at the Clearwater Marine Aquarium said they've seen nothing like it.
"Some of these species are threatened and are of special concern," said Terrie Weeks from the aquarium. "And any decrease in their population will be cause for even more concern."
USF Associate Professor Gabriel Vargo is launching a study on birds and how red tide toxins affect them.
The leading question of the study is whether it is red tide that's causing neurological problems and deaths of birds, and if so, can anything be done to stop it.
"The Fish and Wildlife Commission is charged with managing wildlife in the state, and if we don't know what is going on in the state, then we can't really manage protocols," Vargo said. "That's the reason for this study."
A big concern on the coastline is a dwindling population of specific birds, including egrets, sanderlings, pelicans and herons.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news...0,6595202.story?coll=orl-news-headlines-state
(fair use applies)
Red tide killing birds
August 22, 2005
SAND KEY -- An unusually fierce red-tide bloom killing undersea life in a large region of the Gulf of Mexico also is having a terrible effect on some shore birds, experts said.
Sanderlings, the little birds often seen hopping along the edge of the water, and double-crested cormorants, the dark birds with hooked bills that swim as they fish, are among the species reported sick or dying in larger-than-usual numbers along the Pinellas County coast, where the algae bloom is strongest.
Birds are being found disoriented and convulsing and are turning up dead from Venice to Tarpon Springs.
University of South Florida marine biologist Gabriel Vargo and two graduate students are studying the effect of red tide on birds and have found the toxin in the tissue of nine bird species.
Pelicans, great blue herons, sea gulls, ibises, spoonbills and gannets also are affected.
"This red tide has lasted longer and been more virulent than anything I've seen in the past," longtime bird rescuer Pat Smith told the St. Petersburg Times. "Not only are the turtles and fish being destroyed, the birds are, too."
Erin Cox of the Sentinel staff contributed to this report. Information from The Associated Press also was used.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
http://www.sptimes.com/2005/08/17/Neighborhoodtimes/Golf_course_bird_deat.shtml
(fair use applies)
Golf course bird deaths a mystery
The Paradise Island duck population has been decimated. Tests will be done on water in the two ponds where they died.
By KATHY SAUNDERS
Published August 17, 2005
TREASURE ISLAND - Ducks have been dropping like flies at the city golf course at Treasure Bay.
City recreation officials believe the ducks were poisoned and they have hired an environmental consulting firm to test the water.
About three weeks ago, workers began hauling away the carcasses of ducks, egrets and herons from the two ponds at the city's nine-hole course on Paradise Island. They counted at least 40 dead birds.
"We have no duck population left," said City Recreation Director Cathy Hayduke. "We have no clue what happened. It has baffled us.
"Whatever it was, it was only attacking the birds," she said. "We have fish and crabs in the pond and it didn't affect any of them. So we don't think it was Red Tide.
"It's a mystery," she said, adding that city workers were very fond of the ducks.
"We used to bring them bread to eat in the maintenance shed and one of my employees had a little swimming pool for them," Hayduke said.
Neighbors also noticed the dwindling bird population.
"There were roseate spoonbills out there everyday," said Patricia Howerter whose Village of Paradise Island home overlooks the golf course. "This place used to be covered with birds and it was turning into a beautiful bird sanctuary."
The ponds, located between the sixth and seventh holes and the eighth and ninth holes, have been home to osprey and eagles too.
"Now, I look out and I see maybe four little white birds," Howerter said this week.
Her neighbor, Neil Soldwedel, said one day he spotted eight dead birds on the pond.
"The ducks went first, then it was the white egrets and the trend just kept going and going," he said. "I know some people don't like the ducks or the brown doves, but to kill them is unthinkable."
Hayduke said she took one lethargic duck to the Suncoast Seabird Sanctuary but the duck did not survive.
She checked with the management company at the nearby condominiums and she contacted the company that treats algae in the pond for the city.
"Nobody has done anything different," Hayduke said. City officials finally decided to pay a consultant $130 an hour to have the water samples studied. The results are expected in a few weeks.
Meanwhile, Hayduke said the city hasn't had to remove any dead birds in the past few days.
"I think they were poisoned, I'm just not sure how," Hayduke said.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
http://www.newswatch50.com/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=5FC6D8B0-DC3A-4870-8F52-085D6EFEA4C5
(fair use applies)
D.E.C. Continues Investigation Into Botulism Deaths
8/17/05
The Department of Environmental Conservation says it is possible a number of birds that died from botulism poisoning got it from what they ate, but they need to look to the bottom of the lake for confirmation.
Steve Litwhiler, a spokesperson for the D.E.C., says in certain oxygen free situations, zebra mussels are known to create a botulism toxin. Also, an exotic fish known as a round gobies, feasts on the zebra mussels. The dead birds were found to have round gobies in their stomachs.
“If the zebra mussel is eaten by a round gobies, and the round gobies is eaten by a fish eating bird, the toxin could very well kill the bird,” says Steve Litwhiler, “It is a very possible pathway, but it is circumstantial evidence.”
They have not had a chance to check out the zebra mussel beds in the lake to know for sure they are the culprits.
Karen Lago, of Save The River, says her group believes the birds did in deed die from eating round gobies and or zebra mussels infected with the toxin. Lago says the invasive species will cause more problems if they are not kept out of the St. Lawrence Seaway and Lake Ontario.
Save The River would like to see additional testing done on commercial ships to prevent the creatures from invading the waters.
During the first week of August, two dead birds were found on the St. Lawrence River shore in the Town of Cape Vincent. Both of the birds tested positive for Type E Botulism. Additional birds - Caspian terns, Double-crested cormorants and a Herring gull collected from Little Galloo Island in the eastern basin of Lake Ontario on August 9th were also confirmed stricken with the disease.
DEC is continuing to gather sick and dead birds and fish to check for botulism or other diseases.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
http://news10now.com/content/top_stories/default.asp?ArID=47440
(fair use applies)
Type E Botulism found in dead seagulls
Updated: 8/16/2005 4:55 PM
By: News 10 Now Staff
Type E Botulism was found recently in some dead seagulls along the shores of Lake Ontario. This strain of botulism affects fish-eating birds. The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation advises people to take precautions in handling birds and wildlife.
So far, no fish have been found with type E Botulism. However, the DEC warns fishermen and hunters to be aware of any fish that are sick and acting abnormal.
"If they have to collect them off of their shore line to keep their dogs from playing with them, wear rubber gloves, double bag them, and put them out for the trash," said Stephen Litwhiler, NYS DEC.
People can still swim in Lake Ontario. There is no risk of exposure to botulism.
If you do discover any dead birds or fish, you should report them to the DEC's Division of Fish and Wildlife.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
http://www.wstm.com/Global/story.asp?S=3726058
(fair use applies)
DEC advises public to use caution in handling fish, game
ALBANY, N.Y. The state's Department of Conservation is asking the public to use pre-caution in handling birds and wildlife as it investigates an outbreak of botulism cases.
The agency found dead birds that tested positive for Type E botulism along the shores of the Saint Lawrence River earlier this month.
Additional birds have since also been confirmed stricken with the disease.
(snipped - see link for rest of article)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
http://www.buffalonews.com/editorial/20050822/1040369.asp
(Fair use applies)
High lake temperatures raise fears of bird deaths
By JOHN F. BONFATTI
News Staff Reporter
8/22/2005
Lake Erie became warmer earlier than usual this year, and water temperatures have continued to stay above normal, which makes Russ Biss wonder if thousands of dead migratory birds will litter area beaches again this fall.
"We just don't know what to expect," said Biss, natural resources supervisor for the state Department of Environmental Conservation. "We're expecting some (bird deaths), but we just don't know what levels we'll see."
The lake temperature at Buffalo has fluctuated between 76 and 77 degrees for the last three weeks, according to the National Weather Service. That's 3 to 4 degrees above average for this time of the summer, although not record-breaking, said meteorologist Tom Niziol.
"We've been as high as 80 degrees, during the summer of 1988," he noted.
The lake was unusually warm unusually early this year, Niziol said. It hit 70 degrees June 27. "Other than one day after that, we've been in the 70s since," he said.
Warm water is one of the factors in the development of type E botulism, a form of food poisoning that has killed tens of thousands of fish and migratory birds along Lake Erie since 2000.
While Biss said there have been no reports of bird deaths along Lake Erie so far this year, a number of dead birds have turned up on the eastern end of Lake Ontario. The DEC has confirmed the presence of type E botulism in those birds.
Although scientists still don't fully understand the process, they believe the birds get the botulism from eating fish who get it from decaying organic material on the lake bottom. Heated water speeds that decay.
Since 2000, tens of thousands of migratory birds such as loons and mergansers have been found dead on the Lake Erie shoreline, victims of botulism poisoning.
The worst year was 2002, when, based on DEC counts of bird carcasses retrieved from geographic grids along the shoreline, 17,000 birds are estimated to have died.
The number dropped to about 3,000 in 2003 but rose to slightly fewer than 6,000 last year, Biss said.
"We just don't know what to expect, (but) the conditions are there," he said. "It's just a matter of what's it going to be like and anticipating additional mortality."
Higher water temperatures create favorable conditions for algae growth, and prolific algae blooms have been reported elsewhere in the lakes.
While Biss said not much evidence of that has been found on this state's shoreline, such a bloom has rendered Waverly Beach in Fort Erie, Ont., unfit for swimming much of the summer.
Ron Tripp, Fort Erie's director of infrastructure services, said algae typically develop on the beach because its protected location keeps water from being churned over regularly.
"The algae (are) largely related to the temperature in the lake; the warmer it is, the more prone the algae (are) to grow," he said. "Waverly's historically had problems, but it's a lot worse this year."
Although fish can be susceptible to temperature changes, the warmer water doesn't seem to have had much impact on fish in the lake, said Don Einhouse, DEC senior aquatic biologist at the Lake Erie Unit in Dunkirk.
"We've had a very good walleye fishing year," he said.
Bass fishing also has been good, said Jim Hanley, a charter fisherman. "The bass fishing was exceptional in May, June and July and tapered off the last couple of weeks," he said.
Hanley, nonetheless, said he has seen evidence of fish seeking cooler waters in the thermocline, a layer in the lake where warm surface waters mix with much cooler deeper waters.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
http://www.denverpost.com/opinion/ci_2934353
(fair use applies)
writers on the range
Dead birds tell us what we don't know
By Rebecca Clarren
DenverPost.com
Just 26 miles from San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge, Northern California's rugged Farallon Islands are a perfect backdrop for a mystery. Home to the largest seabird colony in the continental United States with about 250,000 birds, the islands are the Manhattan of the bird world.
Yet things are far from normal in this avian city: This year, the vast majority of seabirds failed to breed, or abandoned their nests. Hundreds of dead birds washed up on the California shore, and almost all of them appear to have died from starvation.
"We haven't seen this before," says Russ Bradley, a senior biologist at the Point Reyes Bird Observatory, a non-profit that conducts seabird research along the California coast. "It's kind of concerning."
Scientists and fishermen from Canada's Vancouver Island to Santa Barbara report similar findings and say that other species are struggling as well. Juvenile rockfish populations are the smallest in 23 years, sea lion numbers are down, and federal surveys of juvenile salmon off the coasts of Washington, Oregon and British Columbia indicate as much as a 30 percent drop in population. Federal scientists report that where normally they catch several hundred salmon in the spring, this year they caught eight.
We expect scientists to make sense of odd events, but they too are puzzled. Researchers are generally a calm and cool group - I have yet to meet an "ologist" who was in the high school drama club - so it makes sense that no climatologists, oceanographers or biologists have stopped forward with a definitive answer.
Here is what researchers know for sure: Winds that in normal years churn the sea, dragging cold, nutrient-rich water from the deep to the surface, were absent or weak this spring. Without such upwelling, plankton and krill, the supporters of the food web, weren't brought to the surface. As a result, fish and birds went hungry.
Another clue may lie in new studies that indicate that the oceans are warming. A 2005 report by the National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration indicates that in the past 50 years, the upper 10,000 feet of the world's oceans has warmed by 0.037 degrees Centigrade - a huge number, considering the volume of water involved. A study produced last month by the Canadian government found that in 2004, surface temperatures off the coast of British Columbia were the warmest in 50 years.
Of course, as any mystery fan knows, the data could be a red herring in solving the puzzle of this year's strange events. Coastal upwelling zones are prone to annual temperature fluctuations, so without additional data, scientists don't know whether what happened this year is an anomaly, part of a natural cycle, or an indicator of global warming and a harbinger of more bad news to come.
This uncertainty underscores the need to conduct more long-term surveys and studies. The Point Reyes Bird Observatory in the Farallon Islands has compiled some of the oldest bird data in the country, yet it goes back only 35 years.
Research needed to gather baseline data about ocean temperatures, salinity and sea levels is unsexy and repetitive. This is no mission to Mars, nor is it the stuff of campaign speeches.
Yet this is exactly the science that's critical for changes that occur on a scale of 50 to 100 years. Currently, the government provides most money for such research in four- to five-year chunks, and that's not long enough, says Jerry Melillo, president of the Ecological Society of America.
"We're asking about science that's \[up\] to a century in scope, but they \[politicians\] are living in an environment where the next election is two years away," he says. "It's a mismatch that's really troubling."
Melillo and others say we need a stable, long-term funding source that forgoes the politically charged budget appropriation process.
A 2003 Pew Oceans Commission report proposed a way to do just this, suggesting that Congress set up a trust fund for fisheries and ocean research. Money to fund the trust would come from a nominal user tax on all seafood sold in the United States.
Let's say global warming has started to run the ecological show. If so, scientists say its impacts will place a huge burden on generations to come. The least we can do is provide those who come after us with the information to make informed decisions.
It may not be sexy, but then, neither are dead birds.
Rebecca Clarren writes about agriculture and environmental issues from Portland, Ore., and is a contributor to Writers on the Range, a service of High Country News (hcn.org) in Paonia.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/archive/2005/August/15/local/stories/01local.htm
(fair use applies)
August 15, 2005
Unusual year’ imperils sea life: Rescue groups, researchers puzzle over environmental shift
Food supply down, number of sick, ‘starving’ birds up this year
By BRIAN SEALS
SENTINEL STAFF WRITER
Animal rescue groups in the region have had a busy summer.
And warmer ocean waters could be to blame.
Common murres have been getting sick and dying along the Santa Cruz County coast this summer, exemplifying a trend occurring on the Northern California coast as well as the Northwest.
"We’re not seeing tons more here, but we’re seeing more dying on the beach," said Jay Holcomb of the International Bird Rescue Research Center.
The birds coming to the center, from five to 10 of them every few days, appear to be malnourished, looking emaciated with poor feather covering.
"Basically, they are starving," Holcomb said.
Members of the Santa Cruz group Native Animal Rescue have been collecting sick birds to send to the center. That’s not uncommon this time of year, but there appears to be an uptick in the numbers this year.
The group rescues sick birds and keeps them until they can be transported to the International Bird Rescue’s Bay Area rehabilitation facility.
"I would say we’re getting more this year, but not an extreme," said Molly Richardson of Native Animal Rescue in Santa Cruz.
Warm water
Earlier this year, it was more likely to be other species of seabirds such as cormorants, which were turning up dead on area beaches in exceptionally large numbers, said Hannah Nevins of Moss Landing Marine Laboratories.
During the spring, those birds are gearing up to breed. But this year, the upwelling that brings food to the surface wasn’t present. Nevins said the birds likely were malnourished and were unable to make up the energy consumed during their breeding period.
The species affected are pelagic, or open ocean birds, she said. Species that fly through the area, such as sooty shearwaters, aren’t showing up dead.
The warm surface water is like a seal that the murres have to dive through to get to food. Normally at the surface, the food is now deeper in the water.
While murres are reputed good divers — they can plunge about 180 meters into the water — this time of year they are trying to raise their young and molt at a time when it is more difficult to find food, Nevins said.
"That takes a lot of energy," she said.
Tales of warmer water-surface temperatures affecting sea life have been reported up and down the West Coast in recent weeks.
Food supply down
There have been fewer jellyfish, fewer rockfish and less krill, a building block of the food web in the sea.
"Basically, it is a very unusual year," said Baldo Marinovic, researcher at UC Santa Cruz’s Long Marine Lab.
Marinovic and other scientists attribute the puzzling phenomena in part to a lack of upwelling this past spring.
Normally, northwest winds blow in the spring at enough of a force to push warm surface water out to sea and allow cold, nutrient-rich water to rise nearshore.
Winds later in the season keep that process going. Marinovic likens it to a swing — it takes a big push to get started and less energy to keep it going.
"We didn’t get that big push this year," Marinovic said.
The result is warmer-than-normal surface water in May and June. Water temperatures were recorded at 59 degrees during that time, compared with about 50 to 54 degrees in normal years.
The cold, nutrient-rich water allows minuscule forms of a plant known as phytoplankton to grow. In turn, phytoplankton is gobbled up by zooplankton, or krill, which in turn is munched on by seabirds and by marine animals big and small.
With the water warmer, that did not happen as usual. It also could be the explanation behind this summer’s emerging red tides, caused by dinoflagellates that flourish in warmer ocean water.
The result is a lack of krill-devouring sea life in the Monterey Bay and elsewhere in Northern California.
Blue whales, which eat tiny krill, have been few and far between this year in the area, Marinovic said, adding that surveys are showing fewer rockfish and jellyfish in the Monterey Bay this year.
On the other hand, there are reports of an abundance of anchovies and sardines, researchers say.
Why is this happening? The jury is still out.
Scientists say it’s not an El Niño event, as waters in Southern California seem to be following their usual patterns.
"We’re trying to put the pieces together to see what caused the conditions we have," Marinovic said.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2005/08/050819123253.htm
(fair use applies)
Another 'Dead Zone' May Loom Off Oregon Coast
CORVALLIS - The Pacific Ocean off of Oregon has experienced a die-off of birds, declining fisheries and wildly fluctuating conditions in the past few months, and has set the stage for another hypoxic "dead zone" like those of 2002 and 2004, according to experts at Oregon State University.
This is the third year in the past four that has demonstrated significantly unusual ocean events, the researchers say, a period unlike any on record. The events have not all been the same. This year's ocean behavior is particularly bizarre, and there is no proof what is causing it.
But extreme variability such as this, OSU researchers say, is consistent with what scientists believe will occur as a result of global warming.
(snipped because this article has been posted twice already in other threads)
Some theorize it's the red tide. Some of it is blamed on dead fish. Some on warmer ocean temps. Some aren't really sure why the birds are dying.
And this doesn't count the scores (pages and pages) of articles on birds dead due to West Nile or the bird flu.
These are the other articles. The ones where the birds are dying and they're not always so sure why.
Articles are in this order: first Florida. Then northern NY and the great lakes. Then the west coast. Then a quick reminder of the dead zone article from Oregon.
http://www.baynews9.com/content/36/2005/8/23/114535.html
(fair use applies)
New victims of red tide
Tuesday, August 23, 2005
First it was the fish. Then the turtles and dolphins. Now birds are apparently falling prey to red tide.
The birds appear to somehow be ingesting the toxin and getting sick or dying.
Experts at the Clearwater Marine Aquarium said they've seen nothing like it.
"Some of these species are threatened and are of special concern," said Terrie Weeks from the aquarium. "And any decrease in their population will be cause for even more concern."
USF Associate Professor Gabriel Vargo is launching a study on birds and how red tide toxins affect them.
The leading question of the study is whether it is red tide that's causing neurological problems and deaths of birds, and if so, can anything be done to stop it.
"The Fish and Wildlife Commission is charged with managing wildlife in the state, and if we don't know what is going on in the state, then we can't really manage protocols," Vargo said. "That's the reason for this study."
A big concern on the coastline is a dwindling population of specific birds, including egrets, sanderlings, pelicans and herons.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news...0,6595202.story?coll=orl-news-headlines-state
(fair use applies)
Red tide killing birds
August 22, 2005
SAND KEY -- An unusually fierce red-tide bloom killing undersea life in a large region of the Gulf of Mexico also is having a terrible effect on some shore birds, experts said.
Sanderlings, the little birds often seen hopping along the edge of the water, and double-crested cormorants, the dark birds with hooked bills that swim as they fish, are among the species reported sick or dying in larger-than-usual numbers along the Pinellas County coast, where the algae bloom is strongest.
Birds are being found disoriented and convulsing and are turning up dead from Venice to Tarpon Springs.
University of South Florida marine biologist Gabriel Vargo and two graduate students are studying the effect of red tide on birds and have found the toxin in the tissue of nine bird species.
Pelicans, great blue herons, sea gulls, ibises, spoonbills and gannets also are affected.
"This red tide has lasted longer and been more virulent than anything I've seen in the past," longtime bird rescuer Pat Smith told the St. Petersburg Times. "Not only are the turtles and fish being destroyed, the birds are, too."
Erin Cox of the Sentinel staff contributed to this report. Information from The Associated Press also was used.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
http://www.sptimes.com/2005/08/17/Neighborhoodtimes/Golf_course_bird_deat.shtml
(fair use applies)
Golf course bird deaths a mystery
The Paradise Island duck population has been decimated. Tests will be done on water in the two ponds where they died.
By KATHY SAUNDERS
Published August 17, 2005
TREASURE ISLAND - Ducks have been dropping like flies at the city golf course at Treasure Bay.
City recreation officials believe the ducks were poisoned and they have hired an environmental consulting firm to test the water.
About three weeks ago, workers began hauling away the carcasses of ducks, egrets and herons from the two ponds at the city's nine-hole course on Paradise Island. They counted at least 40 dead birds.
"We have no duck population left," said City Recreation Director Cathy Hayduke. "We have no clue what happened. It has baffled us.
"Whatever it was, it was only attacking the birds," she said. "We have fish and crabs in the pond and it didn't affect any of them. So we don't think it was Red Tide.
"It's a mystery," she said, adding that city workers were very fond of the ducks.
"We used to bring them bread to eat in the maintenance shed and one of my employees had a little swimming pool for them," Hayduke said.
Neighbors also noticed the dwindling bird population.
"There were roseate spoonbills out there everyday," said Patricia Howerter whose Village of Paradise Island home overlooks the golf course. "This place used to be covered with birds and it was turning into a beautiful bird sanctuary."
The ponds, located between the sixth and seventh holes and the eighth and ninth holes, have been home to osprey and eagles too.
"Now, I look out and I see maybe four little white birds," Howerter said this week.
Her neighbor, Neil Soldwedel, said one day he spotted eight dead birds on the pond.
"The ducks went first, then it was the white egrets and the trend just kept going and going," he said. "I know some people don't like the ducks or the brown doves, but to kill them is unthinkable."
Hayduke said she took one lethargic duck to the Suncoast Seabird Sanctuary but the duck did not survive.
She checked with the management company at the nearby condominiums and she contacted the company that treats algae in the pond for the city.
"Nobody has done anything different," Hayduke said. City officials finally decided to pay a consultant $130 an hour to have the water samples studied. The results are expected in a few weeks.
Meanwhile, Hayduke said the city hasn't had to remove any dead birds in the past few days.
"I think they were poisoned, I'm just not sure how," Hayduke said.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
http://www.newswatch50.com/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=5FC6D8B0-DC3A-4870-8F52-085D6EFEA4C5
(fair use applies)
D.E.C. Continues Investigation Into Botulism Deaths
8/17/05
The Department of Environmental Conservation says it is possible a number of birds that died from botulism poisoning got it from what they ate, but they need to look to the bottom of the lake for confirmation.
Steve Litwhiler, a spokesperson for the D.E.C., says in certain oxygen free situations, zebra mussels are known to create a botulism toxin. Also, an exotic fish known as a round gobies, feasts on the zebra mussels. The dead birds were found to have round gobies in their stomachs.
“If the zebra mussel is eaten by a round gobies, and the round gobies is eaten by a fish eating bird, the toxin could very well kill the bird,” says Steve Litwhiler, “It is a very possible pathway, but it is circumstantial evidence.”
They have not had a chance to check out the zebra mussel beds in the lake to know for sure they are the culprits.
Karen Lago, of Save The River, says her group believes the birds did in deed die from eating round gobies and or zebra mussels infected with the toxin. Lago says the invasive species will cause more problems if they are not kept out of the St. Lawrence Seaway and Lake Ontario.
Save The River would like to see additional testing done on commercial ships to prevent the creatures from invading the waters.
During the first week of August, two dead birds were found on the St. Lawrence River shore in the Town of Cape Vincent. Both of the birds tested positive for Type E Botulism. Additional birds - Caspian terns, Double-crested cormorants and a Herring gull collected from Little Galloo Island in the eastern basin of Lake Ontario on August 9th were also confirmed stricken with the disease.
DEC is continuing to gather sick and dead birds and fish to check for botulism or other diseases.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
http://news10now.com/content/top_stories/default.asp?ArID=47440
(fair use applies)
Type E Botulism found in dead seagulls
Updated: 8/16/2005 4:55 PM
By: News 10 Now Staff
Type E Botulism was found recently in some dead seagulls along the shores of Lake Ontario. This strain of botulism affects fish-eating birds. The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation advises people to take precautions in handling birds and wildlife.
So far, no fish have been found with type E Botulism. However, the DEC warns fishermen and hunters to be aware of any fish that are sick and acting abnormal.
"If they have to collect them off of their shore line to keep their dogs from playing with them, wear rubber gloves, double bag them, and put them out for the trash," said Stephen Litwhiler, NYS DEC.
People can still swim in Lake Ontario. There is no risk of exposure to botulism.
If you do discover any dead birds or fish, you should report them to the DEC's Division of Fish and Wildlife.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
http://www.wstm.com/Global/story.asp?S=3726058
(fair use applies)
DEC advises public to use caution in handling fish, game
ALBANY, N.Y. The state's Department of Conservation is asking the public to use pre-caution in handling birds and wildlife as it investigates an outbreak of botulism cases.
The agency found dead birds that tested positive for Type E botulism along the shores of the Saint Lawrence River earlier this month.
Additional birds have since also been confirmed stricken with the disease.
(snipped - see link for rest of article)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
http://www.buffalonews.com/editorial/20050822/1040369.asp
(Fair use applies)
High lake temperatures raise fears of bird deaths
By JOHN F. BONFATTI
News Staff Reporter
8/22/2005
Lake Erie became warmer earlier than usual this year, and water temperatures have continued to stay above normal, which makes Russ Biss wonder if thousands of dead migratory birds will litter area beaches again this fall.
"We just don't know what to expect," said Biss, natural resources supervisor for the state Department of Environmental Conservation. "We're expecting some (bird deaths), but we just don't know what levels we'll see."
The lake temperature at Buffalo has fluctuated between 76 and 77 degrees for the last three weeks, according to the National Weather Service. That's 3 to 4 degrees above average for this time of the summer, although not record-breaking, said meteorologist Tom Niziol.
"We've been as high as 80 degrees, during the summer of 1988," he noted.
The lake was unusually warm unusually early this year, Niziol said. It hit 70 degrees June 27. "Other than one day after that, we've been in the 70s since," he said.
Warm water is one of the factors in the development of type E botulism, a form of food poisoning that has killed tens of thousands of fish and migratory birds along Lake Erie since 2000.
While Biss said there have been no reports of bird deaths along Lake Erie so far this year, a number of dead birds have turned up on the eastern end of Lake Ontario. The DEC has confirmed the presence of type E botulism in those birds.
Although scientists still don't fully understand the process, they believe the birds get the botulism from eating fish who get it from decaying organic material on the lake bottom. Heated water speeds that decay.
Since 2000, tens of thousands of migratory birds such as loons and mergansers have been found dead on the Lake Erie shoreline, victims of botulism poisoning.
The worst year was 2002, when, based on DEC counts of bird carcasses retrieved from geographic grids along the shoreline, 17,000 birds are estimated to have died.
The number dropped to about 3,000 in 2003 but rose to slightly fewer than 6,000 last year, Biss said.
"We just don't know what to expect, (but) the conditions are there," he said. "It's just a matter of what's it going to be like and anticipating additional mortality."
Higher water temperatures create favorable conditions for algae growth, and prolific algae blooms have been reported elsewhere in the lakes.
While Biss said not much evidence of that has been found on this state's shoreline, such a bloom has rendered Waverly Beach in Fort Erie, Ont., unfit for swimming much of the summer.
Ron Tripp, Fort Erie's director of infrastructure services, said algae typically develop on the beach because its protected location keeps water from being churned over regularly.
"The algae (are) largely related to the temperature in the lake; the warmer it is, the more prone the algae (are) to grow," he said. "Waverly's historically had problems, but it's a lot worse this year."
Although fish can be susceptible to temperature changes, the warmer water doesn't seem to have had much impact on fish in the lake, said Don Einhouse, DEC senior aquatic biologist at the Lake Erie Unit in Dunkirk.
"We've had a very good walleye fishing year," he said.
Bass fishing also has been good, said Jim Hanley, a charter fisherman. "The bass fishing was exceptional in May, June and July and tapered off the last couple of weeks," he said.
Hanley, nonetheless, said he has seen evidence of fish seeking cooler waters in the thermocline, a layer in the lake where warm surface waters mix with much cooler deeper waters.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
http://www.denverpost.com/opinion/ci_2934353
(fair use applies)
writers on the range
Dead birds tell us what we don't know
By Rebecca Clarren
DenverPost.com
Just 26 miles from San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge, Northern California's rugged Farallon Islands are a perfect backdrop for a mystery. Home to the largest seabird colony in the continental United States with about 250,000 birds, the islands are the Manhattan of the bird world.
Yet things are far from normal in this avian city: This year, the vast majority of seabirds failed to breed, or abandoned their nests. Hundreds of dead birds washed up on the California shore, and almost all of them appear to have died from starvation.
"We haven't seen this before," says Russ Bradley, a senior biologist at the Point Reyes Bird Observatory, a non-profit that conducts seabird research along the California coast. "It's kind of concerning."
Scientists and fishermen from Canada's Vancouver Island to Santa Barbara report similar findings and say that other species are struggling as well. Juvenile rockfish populations are the smallest in 23 years, sea lion numbers are down, and federal surveys of juvenile salmon off the coasts of Washington, Oregon and British Columbia indicate as much as a 30 percent drop in population. Federal scientists report that where normally they catch several hundred salmon in the spring, this year they caught eight.
We expect scientists to make sense of odd events, but they too are puzzled. Researchers are generally a calm and cool group - I have yet to meet an "ologist" who was in the high school drama club - so it makes sense that no climatologists, oceanographers or biologists have stopped forward with a definitive answer.
Here is what researchers know for sure: Winds that in normal years churn the sea, dragging cold, nutrient-rich water from the deep to the surface, were absent or weak this spring. Without such upwelling, plankton and krill, the supporters of the food web, weren't brought to the surface. As a result, fish and birds went hungry.
Another clue may lie in new studies that indicate that the oceans are warming. A 2005 report by the National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration indicates that in the past 50 years, the upper 10,000 feet of the world's oceans has warmed by 0.037 degrees Centigrade - a huge number, considering the volume of water involved. A study produced last month by the Canadian government found that in 2004, surface temperatures off the coast of British Columbia were the warmest in 50 years.
Of course, as any mystery fan knows, the data could be a red herring in solving the puzzle of this year's strange events. Coastal upwelling zones are prone to annual temperature fluctuations, so without additional data, scientists don't know whether what happened this year is an anomaly, part of a natural cycle, or an indicator of global warming and a harbinger of more bad news to come.
This uncertainty underscores the need to conduct more long-term surveys and studies. The Point Reyes Bird Observatory in the Farallon Islands has compiled some of the oldest bird data in the country, yet it goes back only 35 years.
Research needed to gather baseline data about ocean temperatures, salinity and sea levels is unsexy and repetitive. This is no mission to Mars, nor is it the stuff of campaign speeches.
Yet this is exactly the science that's critical for changes that occur on a scale of 50 to 100 years. Currently, the government provides most money for such research in four- to five-year chunks, and that's not long enough, says Jerry Melillo, president of the Ecological Society of America.
"We're asking about science that's \[up\] to a century in scope, but they \[politicians\] are living in an environment where the next election is two years away," he says. "It's a mismatch that's really troubling."
Melillo and others say we need a stable, long-term funding source that forgoes the politically charged budget appropriation process.
A 2003 Pew Oceans Commission report proposed a way to do just this, suggesting that Congress set up a trust fund for fisheries and ocean research. Money to fund the trust would come from a nominal user tax on all seafood sold in the United States.
Let's say global warming has started to run the ecological show. If so, scientists say its impacts will place a huge burden on generations to come. The least we can do is provide those who come after us with the information to make informed decisions.
It may not be sexy, but then, neither are dead birds.
Rebecca Clarren writes about agriculture and environmental issues from Portland, Ore., and is a contributor to Writers on the Range, a service of High Country News (hcn.org) in Paonia.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/archive/2005/August/15/local/stories/01local.htm
(fair use applies)
August 15, 2005
Unusual year’ imperils sea life: Rescue groups, researchers puzzle over environmental shift
Food supply down, number of sick, ‘starving’ birds up this year
By BRIAN SEALS
SENTINEL STAFF WRITER
Animal rescue groups in the region have had a busy summer.
And warmer ocean waters could be to blame.
Common murres have been getting sick and dying along the Santa Cruz County coast this summer, exemplifying a trend occurring on the Northern California coast as well as the Northwest.
"We’re not seeing tons more here, but we’re seeing more dying on the beach," said Jay Holcomb of the International Bird Rescue Research Center.
The birds coming to the center, from five to 10 of them every few days, appear to be malnourished, looking emaciated with poor feather covering.
"Basically, they are starving," Holcomb said.
Members of the Santa Cruz group Native Animal Rescue have been collecting sick birds to send to the center. That’s not uncommon this time of year, but there appears to be an uptick in the numbers this year.
The group rescues sick birds and keeps them until they can be transported to the International Bird Rescue’s Bay Area rehabilitation facility.
"I would say we’re getting more this year, but not an extreme," said Molly Richardson of Native Animal Rescue in Santa Cruz.
Warm water
Earlier this year, it was more likely to be other species of seabirds such as cormorants, which were turning up dead on area beaches in exceptionally large numbers, said Hannah Nevins of Moss Landing Marine Laboratories.
During the spring, those birds are gearing up to breed. But this year, the upwelling that brings food to the surface wasn’t present. Nevins said the birds likely were malnourished and were unable to make up the energy consumed during their breeding period.
The species affected are pelagic, or open ocean birds, she said. Species that fly through the area, such as sooty shearwaters, aren’t showing up dead.
The warm surface water is like a seal that the murres have to dive through to get to food. Normally at the surface, the food is now deeper in the water.
While murres are reputed good divers — they can plunge about 180 meters into the water — this time of year they are trying to raise their young and molt at a time when it is more difficult to find food, Nevins said.
"That takes a lot of energy," she said.
Tales of warmer water-surface temperatures affecting sea life have been reported up and down the West Coast in recent weeks.
Food supply down
There have been fewer jellyfish, fewer rockfish and less krill, a building block of the food web in the sea.
"Basically, it is a very unusual year," said Baldo Marinovic, researcher at UC Santa Cruz’s Long Marine Lab.
Marinovic and other scientists attribute the puzzling phenomena in part to a lack of upwelling this past spring.
Normally, northwest winds blow in the spring at enough of a force to push warm surface water out to sea and allow cold, nutrient-rich water to rise nearshore.
Winds later in the season keep that process going. Marinovic likens it to a swing — it takes a big push to get started and less energy to keep it going.
"We didn’t get that big push this year," Marinovic said.
The result is warmer-than-normal surface water in May and June. Water temperatures were recorded at 59 degrees during that time, compared with about 50 to 54 degrees in normal years.
The cold, nutrient-rich water allows minuscule forms of a plant known as phytoplankton to grow. In turn, phytoplankton is gobbled up by zooplankton, or krill, which in turn is munched on by seabirds and by marine animals big and small.
With the water warmer, that did not happen as usual. It also could be the explanation behind this summer’s emerging red tides, caused by dinoflagellates that flourish in warmer ocean water.
The result is a lack of krill-devouring sea life in the Monterey Bay and elsewhere in Northern California.
Blue whales, which eat tiny krill, have been few and far between this year in the area, Marinovic said, adding that surveys are showing fewer rockfish and jellyfish in the Monterey Bay this year.
On the other hand, there are reports of an abundance of anchovies and sardines, researchers say.
Why is this happening? The jury is still out.
Scientists say it’s not an El Niño event, as waters in Southern California seem to be following their usual patterns.
"We’re trying to put the pieces together to see what caused the conditions we have," Marinovic said.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2005/08/050819123253.htm
(fair use applies)
Another 'Dead Zone' May Loom Off Oregon Coast
CORVALLIS - The Pacific Ocean off of Oregon has experienced a die-off of birds, declining fisheries and wildly fluctuating conditions in the past few months, and has set the stage for another hypoxic "dead zone" like those of 2002 and 2004, according to experts at Oregon State University.
This is the third year in the past four that has demonstrated significantly unusual ocean events, the researchers say, a period unlike any on record. The events have not all been the same. This year's ocean behavior is particularly bizarre, and there is no proof what is causing it.
But extreme variability such as this, OSU researchers say, is consistent with what scientists believe will occur as a result of global warming.
(snipped because this article has been posted twice already in other threads)
Well, I don't know whether to post a "shocked face" or a "sad face". But this is indeed sad. And as you say, you didn't even count the damage done by the West Nile virus. Last Spring we had a bunch of robbins, and they are year round birds here. THERE ARE NONE, and our bird population in total seems to be way down. I have many feeders and I'm used to having a lot of birds right now. Sad, and scary.
