Bird carcasses decomposing in the sand at Marin County’s Rodeo Beach Sunday offered a stark sign of a widespread avian starvation event that wildlife officials said has killed or sickened an increasing number of birds this year, compared to previous seasons.
International Bird Rescue, an avian rehabilitation organization based in Fairfield and San Pedro (Los Angeles County) has taken in about 250 starving common murres over the past two months — nearly eight times the number the group would typically expect over that period, according to CEO J.D. Bergeron. Bergeron suspects warming ocean waters have disrupted the birds’ food supply as fish avoid warmer coastal waters, though the official cause has not been established.
“It feels pretty sad to have such a charismatic species being affected so terribly, after about 4 million of them have been proven to disappear just a few years ago in Alaska,” Bergeron said. “This is the third starvation wave or problem we’ve seen in 10 years.”…