Seward, Alaska
It’s hard to miss the bloody
bird carcasses strewn about town, the black and white seabirds floating dead in
the water, washed up at the boat harbor and on the beaches, or sitting quietly on
snow, unable to get back to the ocean.
Travelers on the Seward
Highway have found dead and live Common Murres from Mile 3 to Mile 12 and
beyond since mid-November. Another sighting was even more unusual, a Common
Murre swimming in freshwater Skilak Lake!
On Tuesday, 283 dead murres
were counted along the beach at the head of the bay. Hundreds more littered the
other beaches around Seward. Every storm from the south pushes more starving, weak
and dying Murres to Seward from their normal wintering home in the Gulf of
Alaska.
None of this is normal. They
shouldn’t be here in the winter. Statistics of live murre numbers from the
annual Audubon Christmas Bird Count bear this out. From 1990 to 1996, 3 Count
years had zero murres, 1993 counted 36 birds, and the other years had less than
nine. In 1997 and 1998, strong El Nino years, there was a “wreck” of murres and
251 and 293 live birds were counted respectively. 1999 found no murres, 2000
had one murre. 2001 rose to 83, down in 2003 to 38, back up to 82 in 2003.
Another spike occurred in 2004 with 311, but diminished to five in 2005. From
2006 to 2011, the numbers were in the two digits. None were found in 2012 or
2013, and only one was found last year.
Alarming numbers of seabird
die-offs are also occurring this year from California up the coast to the Gulf
of Alaska. The Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge (AMNWR) in Homer
estimates thousands of dead murres in Kachemak Bay since this summer with a
spike in July, and again in mid-November.
The AMNWR and the Alaska
Sealife Center in Seward has sent murre carcasses to the National Wildlife
Health Center in Madison, Wisconsin for evaluation. Thus far, the main cause is
starvation. The reason is likely a very strong El Nino weather pattern that has
warmed sea surface water temperatures above average in the Gulf of Alaska. This
has changed the ocean ecosystem as cold-water species die or migrate north to
cooler waters. El Nino was very strong in 1997-1998 when the murres wrecked. The
2015-2016 El Nino is forecast to become one of the strongest on record.
Another factor is the
“Pacific Blob,” a mass off extremely unusually warm water stretching across the
north Pacific from Japan to Baja. The Blob also wreaks havoc on the ocean
ecosystem. El Nino and the Blob are formidable forces whose far-reaching
impacts are yet to be fully understood.
Meanwhile, the staff Alaska
Sealife Center is overwhelmed by the huge numbers. The facility does not have
the staff or space to fully rehabilitate so many starving birds. Operating
under a US Fish and Wildlife Service permit, they are doing the best they can
to respond with a quick check-up, a meal of tasty fish, and then release back
into the bay. Since mid-November, the staff ha received 87 murres, giving many
another chance to live
The ASLC encourages people to
leave both live and dead birds where they are found as capture, transport, and
exam can be very stressful. Birds that are near the shore can be shooed back
into the water where they are at least safe from predators like ravens and
loose dogs.
If alert, live birds are
found in unusual locations far from the water, the public should call the local
Wildlife Response hotline at 224-6395 (or 1-888-774-7325 toll-free for Alaskan
phone lines) before bringing in any murres to ensure that the staff will be
available to help.
If you are walking the
beaches with your dog, please keep the dog under control to reduce further
stress on the live but beached birds. If you see dead murres with color-coded
zip-ties around the wing, bill, or foot, please do not disturb. These birds are
part of COASST, a citizen science seabird monitoring project.
Donations to the ASLC
Wildlife Response Program are always greatly appreciated, either on line at http://www.alaskasealife.org/ or in person.
The ASLC is open this winter from 11 to 3 pm daily, with free admission for
Alaskans on Wednesdays through February 24. Come watch healthy murres flying
around underwater. If you see Jane, Halley, Savannah, or Margaret, say “Thank
You!” for a hard, heart-breaking job well done.
Carol Griswold
Seward Sporadic Bird Report Reporter
Seward Sporadic Bird Report Reporter
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