Long Beach is not alone in experiencing a wave of bird deaths along its coast. Within minutes of walking on a San Diego beach, marine ornithologist Tammy Russell found the feathered carcasses — one after another.
Some were mixed in with washed up kelp. Others were under rocks.
Each month, scientists and volunteers conduct surveys of dead seabirds and find what Russell describes as a grim assessment of the impact of a massive marine heat wave that has lingered for months off parts of the California coast…