POSTED: 11/16/2014 02:47:43 PM PST0 COMMENTS| UPDATED: A DAY AGO
Small seabirds are washing up dead on local beaches, an unusual phenomenon that suggests high ocean temperatures are causing starvation.
The hardy gray birds, call Cassin's auklets, are rarely sighted in offshore waters. They normally live in the distant open ocean, feeding on small crustaceans in the cold Pacific Ocean.
But this month, large numbers of thin, dying or dead birds are being seen along our coast. Most reports come from San Mateo County beaches, such as Pescadero's Gazos Creek and Pacifica's Linda Mar. Bodies also have been found on the coasts of Marin and Sonoma counties.
A preliminary analysis of the bodies of five young birds by the National Wildlife Health Center concluded that they were in poor or emaciated body conditions, "consistent with a lack of zooplankton," according to Beach Watch, a monitoring project of the Farallones Marine Sanctuary Association, which found and submitted the birds.
Barbara Kossy, of Moss Beach, recently spotted one while she kayaked on Half Moon Bay.
"This bird seemed sort of listless and didn't react in any way," said Kossy, a board member of the San Mateo Resource Conservation District. It was an unusual sighting, and she kept her distance.
"Typically, they look at you -- or, if startled, they either fly or dive," she said. "The bird was clearly unwell."
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