Published: September
17, 2018
One
recent morning, Elizabeth Forys saw a strange sight on St. Pete Beach.
The
Eckerd College biology professor was visiting to check on the condition of
certain seabirds as a Red Tide algae bloom rolled into Pinellas County’s iconic
beaches. She saw a laughing gull just sitting on the sand, and she walked up to
it. Instead of flying away, it didn’t move, not even when someone came to pick
it up.
As with
other birds she’d seen staggering around as if they had vertigo, she suspects
the gull was poisoned by Red Tide.
Amid all
the talk of the wildlife killed by Red Tide this year — eels, snook, dolphins,
manatees and sea turtles — seabirds and shore birds are frequently left out.
But
they’re suffering as well, to the point that wildlife rehabilitation experts
are on the lookout for ailing birds. They are particularly searching for the
ones that are supposed to be protected by state and federal law, such as black
skimmers, least terns, snowy plovers, oystercatchers and red knots.
"We’re
really worried about the red knots," said Lorraine Margeson, an avid
birder who monitors nesting behavior at For DeSoto. She noted that this time of
year, more than a thousand often wind up on the beaches between St. Pete Beach
and Sand Key.
The birds
that get sick appear to fall ill after eating the dead fish killed by Red Tide.
The algae’s toxins collect in their avian bodies and affect their neurological
and digestive systems.
Sometimes
the poison is fatal. Forys said four snowy plovers died on Lido Key near
Sarasota, all apparently killed by Red Tide. She said that’s an unheard of
number of simultaneous deaths for that species, which is listed as threatened
under the Endangered Species Act.
The
hardest hit area appeared to be Sarasota. There, a wildlife rehabilitation
facility called Save Our Seabirds took in 45 sick birds in a single morning,
said Melissa Dollard, avian hospital director for the Seashore Seabird
Sanctuary in Indian Shores. Dollard said she’s hoping her facility doesn’t get
that many Red Tide patients in such a short space of time.
"We’ve
gotten about 20 birds so far that are presenting with Red Tide symptoms,"
Dollard said.
The ones
most commonly affected are the laughing gulls, she said, but the sanctuary has
also cared for a pair of cormorants, a ruddy turnstone and a few pelicans,
among other species.
Treating
them involves giving them food that’s not tainted by Red Tide, providing fluids
to flush out the toxins and sometimes treating them with activated charcoal,
which helps purge the Red Tide, Dollard said. Usually they’re fine after seven
to 10 days of treatment, she said.
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