SHOREBIRDS
The oil spill along the Southern California coast has affected the environment, but luckily for birds, it did not occur during the busiest months for migrations along the Pacific flyway
While there's cause for hope that relatively few seabirds will be harmed by the Orange County oil spill, an expert is warning that large numbers of fatalities typically don't show up until as much as a week after such events.
A clear assessment of the spill's total impact on fish, sea mammals and coastal habitat will take months. While modern oil cleanup efforts have become increasingly efficient, numerous variables make it difficult to predict how long it will take to do the job. Wind, storms, wave size and ocean currents affect how far the spill will spread and how quickly it can be contained.
As of Thursday, 35 birds coated with oil had been collected, according to the running tally kept by UC Davis' Oiled Wildlife Care Network.
“Most of the birds that would be affected are those who sit on the water, offshore,” said William Sydeman, a seabirds researcher at Scripps Institution of Oceanography. Those birds include common murres, surf scoters and grebes.
“It takes maybe four to seven days after a spill for the numbers to catch up,” he said. “It's good that there aren't a lot of affected birds taken in so far, but we can expect to see the number of dead birds to increase considerably in the days ahead.”
If there's a hint of good news for the birds, it's that the spill comes at a time when their coastal population in Southern California is at an annual ebb, said Kim Kolpin, executive director of the Bolsa Chica Land Trust. Birds aren't nesting or mating, the summer migrating birds have left and the winter migrating birds won't begin arriving until later this month or early November.
“If this was summer, when our migratory shorebirds were here, this would have been catastrophic,” Kolpin said.
Kolpin said another bit of good news for the bird population is that, so far, the Bolsa Chica wetlands have been spared. A boom was installed across the inlet before the first traces of oil began showing up on nearby beaches, and as of midday Tuesday it was keeping petroleum out of the bird-rich habitat at the wetlands.
What to do if you see a harmed bird:
Do not approach or touch wildlife contaminated by oil. Call a hotline to report the animals, 877-823-6926.
Oil in the water can be deadly for animals. Oil is toxic when ingested. When birds get oil on their feathers, it impairs the important waterproofing that is necessary to keep a bird warm. A bird may also lose its ability to float in the water or to fly if it is covered in oil. Marine mammals may suffer from hypothermia. Oil may cause reproductive problems and genetic abnormalities in fish. Contaminants may enter the food chain and render seafood unfit for people to eat.
Audubon’s coastal priority birds
Priority birds are species of conservation concern to the Audubon Society. They include birds representing the range of habitats across the Americas: year-round residents, neotropical migrants and everything in between. American oystercatcher Black oystercatcher Black skimmer Brown pelican Clapper rail Least tern Long-billed curlew Marbled godwit Piping plover Red knot Reddish egret Ridgway's rail Semipalmated sandpiper Snowy plover Sooty shearwater Western sandpiper
In 1993, the Western snowy plover was listed as threatened by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. Snowy plovers are pale brown shorebirds with a black or brown partial collar and a short black bill. They are hardy survivors that forage for invertebrates on ocean beaches and in desolate salt flats and alkaline lakes. Snowy plovers make nearly invisible nests on beaches, where they are easily disturbed by humans, dogs and beach vehicles.
Fewer than 2,000 breeding plovers remain in the Pacific coast population.
Western snowy plovers breed and winter in the region and will be threatened by oil as it hits the beaches. The few remaining wetlands along the Southern California coast are vital stopovers for bird species along the Pacific Flyway.