Tens of thousands of dead birds are washing up on the beaches of Alaska’s Prince William Sound, an unexplained mass die-off that some experts say may be related to the changing climate.
The birds, all of a species known as the common murre, appear to have starved to death, federal wildlife officials say, suggesting disruptions to the supply of herring and other fish that make up the birds’ diet.
A survey by wildlife officials over the weekend counted more than 8,000 dead murres on the shores of one beach near Whittier, about 100km southeast of Anchorage. Local news video showed bodies of the black-and-white birds scattered on the beach and floating in the water offshore.
Even for a region that has seen die-offs of murres before, this event seems exceptional, local officials say.
“Scientists tend to get blasé about this, but this is bigger than I've ever seen,” David Irons, a biologist who recently retired from the US Fish and Wildlife Service’s migratory bird division, said in a video interview with KTVA-TV as he assisted with the bird count.
“Seabird biologists say seabirds are indicators of the health of the ecosystem. Now they're dying, and that is telling us something,” he said.