brown pelicans in trouble
The center where Shannon works has been flooded with California brown pelicans (an endangered species) suffering from a mysterious malady.
They 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.
So far, many theories have surfaced about what might be happening. It could be a toxin, such as fire retardant, running off the land from recent fires. Or the domoic acid, a neuro-toxin that causes brain damage. Or even the cold weather that hit the Pacific Northwest in December that triggered another disease.
Below is a video clip from the BBC
recent branches
Sounds scary - for the pelicans, and for what they may be telling us about the broader environment.
If it's an infection, ProMed may have a lead (or be worth posting on). It's an excellent site, which cuts through government and peer review restrictions/delays, yet almost always gets things right - and fast.
http://www.promedmail.org/pls/otn/f?p=2400:1000:
On the way from Des Moines to St Louis, we went through Ottumwa, where several eagles were wheeling over the river, and we also saw several other eagles in the area. I tried to do the DDT story justice, but I'm not sure people in my car really got it. Better that than to have it be blatantly obvious, perhaps.
Good luck to Shannon and the team there.
J: I had no idea what the DDT story was (I'm sure Shannon does) so I looked it up .. it's good to read something positive, even if that positive result was due to us stopping harmful action.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DDT
A recent story where we tried to help but ended up just making things worse:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090113/ap_on_re_au_an/as_australia_rabbit_infestation
Did you make that image? and more so, coin the phrase 'kamikaze pelicans'?
C: No .. I stole both the image and the awesome phrase. Im good like that
B: OK, maybe the Australians could teach the threatened native birds to EAT cats, AND also EAT rabbits - in the approporiate ratios? This is all very complicated.
BTW - has anyone seen the documentary about these absolutely huge frogs that someone let loose in Australia that are predatorless, and hence also replicated out of control? We rented the film once in New Haven, but I can't recall the title now. I'm still not sure if it was real or a satire; but I think the former.
B: To pay your appropriate copyright dues, simply send cash or high value gift cards to: 2301 Divot Drive. OR - perhaps you'd like to instead join Leavenworth's* club: Blogging from the Big House.
*Leavenworth link...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Leavenworth_prison_c1910.jpg
Did you make that image? There has to be more to the story.