Post by 727sky on Feb 5, 2016 22:40:31 GMT -6
www.adn.com/article/20160129/scientists-think-gulf-alaska-seabird-die-biggest-ever-recorded
Alaska Dispatch News, Jan 29, 2016 (emphasis added): Scientists think Gulf of Alaska seabird die-off is biggest ever recorded… The mass of dead seabirds that have washed up on Alaska beaches in past months is unprecedented in size, scope and duration, a federal biologist said… The staggering die-off… is a signal that something is awry in the Gulf of Alaska, said Heather Renner, supervisory wildlife biologist at the Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge… It coincides with widespread deaths of other marine animals, from whales in the Gulf of Alaska to sea lions in California… Common murres and whales… are not the only Gulf of Alaska marine animals to fall victim to ailments… Kachemak Bay saw an eight-fold increase in sea otter deaths… Sea stars in Kachemak Bay in 2015 were found stricken with a wasting disease similar.
www.adn.com/article/20160129/scientists-think-gulf-alaska-seabird-die-biggest-ever-recorded
Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge: “We are in the midst of perhaps the largest murre die-off ever recorded”… [In Homer] the beaches are “littered” with murre carcasses… A breeding colony in the Barren Islands that is usually teeming in late summer with adult murres tending their young was deserted this year… “nobody was home… In more than three decades of monitoring murres in the Barrens, we’ve never had complete reproduction failure before“… Similar failures occurred at some other nesting colonies.
www.nprb.org/assets/amss/images/uploads/files/2016_AMSS_Poster_Sessions.pdf
www.alaskapublic.org/2016/01/28/marine-science-symposium-liveblog-thursday/
[T]his event will likely be the largest and most widespread on record. And seeing the starving birds dying far inland apparently searching for food is “nearly unheard of,” said USFWS’s Heather Renner.
www.alaskapublic.org/2016/01/15/dead-murres-wash-up-on-haines-beach/
www.cnn.com/2016/01/21/us/alaska-bird-die-off/
www.alaskapublic.org/2016/01/28/scientists-say-murre-die-off-comparable-to-exxon-valdez-spill/
www.economist.com/news/united-states/21689605-thousands-seabirds-are-washing-up-dead-alaskas-shores-murre-mystery
homertribune.com/2016/01/murre-deaths-lead-to-more-questions/
www.nytimes.com/2016/01/19/science/what-does-it-mean-when-animals-suffer-a-vast-die-off.html
A birds' bones are hollow, and contain 95% air- so I guess we can throw in a little air pollution. Shorter,warmer winters are allowing insects to replicate at unprecidented numbers, and mite infestation for a bird can seriously weaken their immune system.
