Rescue Center Overwhelmed with Starving Seabirds; Rising Ocean Tempertures Cited

Across Northern California, along the beaches from Monterey to Point Reyes, seabirds have been spotted very unhealthy in large numbers. Some vary from shrunken height to so skinny u can see bones. These bird have a tendency to be mistaken for penguins. Many of these birds are going to the Bird Rescue Center in Fairfield. The Rescue Center says they are taking the highest amount of birds in an estimated 18 years.

Scientists say, there is a change in the ocean's food supply. Six tanks at the Rescue Center are being used trying to help at least 250 birds back to their healthy self again. Typically they would only have to use one or two tanks at this point of year. The Rescue Center says that they have had large numbers with birds but  nothing like this.

Researchers say these birds need lots of calories to eat, and judging by their feathers they are not getting those calories. Scientists think that these birds are not getting enough calories because of the ocean food chain changing due to ocean pollution.

Scientists say they are still not very sure what is causing these birds to come up on the beach."Marine life are most likely to being stressed for six months or seven along the coast, says Montua." There is not enough wind to keep the food nutrients going, the birds have to dive deep for food now.

Some of the birds are coming with big patches of nothing but skin. Which is a symptoms of catastrophic molting. The cause of this is unknown. This crisis of marine life does not allow the birds to act normally. Many young birds were spotted first ending up on the beach but now they are seeing adult seabirds on the beach.

During the late summer adults were no longer able to fly. If the food supply is to deep or too far away the birds don't get enough nutrients to survive so they end up on the beaches."Yesterday i was at Moss Landing State Beach and so at least 50 dead seabirds in a stretch of two hundred yards. This is an unusually high level of deposition, says Hannah Nevins."