Pelicans fall out of sky from Mexico to Ore.

[alf]

What are you guys up to now?


By Pat Brennan

The Orange County Register

SANTA ANA, Calif. — Pelicans suffering from a mysterious malady are crashing into cars and boats, wandering along roadways and turning up dead by the hundreds across the West Coast, from southern Oregon to Baja California, Mexico, bird-rescue workers say.

Weak, disoriented birds are huddling in people's yards or being struck by cars. More than 100 have been rescued along the California coast, according to the International Bird Rescue Research Center in San Pedro.

Hundreds of birds, disoriented or dead, have been observed across the West Coast.

"One pelican actually hit a car in Los Angeles," said Rebecca Dmytryk of Wildrescue, a bird-rescue operation. "One pelican hit a boat in Monterey."

While some of the symptoms resemble those associated with domoic-acid poisoning — an ocean toxin that sometimes affects sea birds and mammals — other symptoms do not. Domoic acid also apparently has not been found in significant amounts offshore, although more tests are needed.

Rescuers are wondering whether the illness is caused by a virus, or even by contaminants washed into the ocean after recent fires across Southern California. Many of the birds also have swollen feet.

"These birds are on the freeway, getting run over," said Jay Holcomb, executive director of the rescue center in San Pedro. "A bunch we've seen have been hit. They've been landing on yards five miles inland. When some of the people have captured them in parking lots, they just sit in the corner. They just go pick them up."

"Maybe the weather has been particularly difficult on them," said Heather Nevill, a veterinarian tracking the problem for the International Bird Rescue Research Center. "Maybe the fish stocks are particularly low. It might be more than one thing, all coming together at once."

Copyright © 2009 The Seattle Times Company

[Jim Richards]

The must've just received their CA tax refund IOU.

[Porsche-O-Phile]

Got too sauced up at the buffets again before driving home.

[charleskieffner]

i swear to god i have not been shooting them! i have an airtight alibi!

[charleskieffner]

mi amigoes in san felipe baja norte have been finding them on their beach wandering dazed and confuzed. kinda like they had a rough night or week nipping at the old mescal bottle.

prelim reports state its an organizm that fish eat and then mr. pelican eats fish and then gets sick and emaciated.

[juanbenae]

Originally Posted by Wayne at Pelican Parts

This is not a good sign.

-Wayne

i am glad i have no kids to be worried about beyond the next 25-30 years i expect to possibly live (27 years has me at 70). i think we are seeing the end of the world as we know it. like a dryer sheet in the laundry basket after folding, we are killing this planet. the animals are telling us so.