Beachgoers along the Bay Area coast keep finding the same bleak scene: common murres too weak to fly, some already dead, others barely moving above the tide line.
International Bird Rescue, the only Northern California center that can treat the birds at scale, says a second starvation wave is underway. As of an Oct. 8 afternoon update on its site, the Fairfield hospital had admitted 221 common murres since Aug. 15, including 173 in Northern California. ABC7 toured the facility Thursday and found staff still taking in gravely ill birds. CEO JD Bergeron told the station the murres are starving as record-warm ocean temperatures scramble where their prey gather.
Two waves in one year
The group first responded in March, when brown pelicans, Brandt's cormorants and murres washed ashore from Southern California to the Bay Area. Its first-wave tally from March through June was 392 seabirds. The late-summer surge is different: adults are arriving in greater numbers than the orphaned chicks the center usually sees this time of year, many with worn, broken feathers and a blood parasite called Babesia uriae, Bird Rescue reported.
CBS San Francisco reported in mid-September that some birds arrive at about half their normal weight. When they cannot regrow feathers, they lose waterproofing, chill, and can suffer organ failure, said Dr. Rebecca Duerr, the center's director of veterinary science. Warm water also revs up predator fish, putting murres that dive hundreds of feet for food into sharper competition, CBS reported, drawing comparisons to the 2014 marine heat wave nicknamed "the Blob."
What people can do
Wildlife agencies say call volume from the public has overwhelmed some local responders, leaving Bird Rescue as the main intake point. Bergeron warned a strong El Niño expected this winter could stretch the crisis further. The center asks anyone who finds a sick or lethargic seabird to contact a lifeguard, animal control or its Bird HelpLine at 866-767-2473 rather than leave the animal on the sand. Birds that reach care quickly often recover and can be released; those left too long usually do not.