Escalating Bird Deaths in Oregon May Be a Warning of Ocean Changes

Dying seabirds along the Oregon coast are considered a warning sign of ominous changes in the Pacific Ocean that may have potentially disastrous effects for the environment.

The common murre is starving and washing up on Oregon beaches at eight times the normal rate because the birds are not finding enough to eat during nesting season, their most stressful time of the year. “If Oregon’s most numerous seabird is in trouble, we know things are bad out there,” said Roy Lowe, a biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Food is scarce because spring did not bring the vital northerly winds that power ocean upwelling, the currents that force nutrients to the surface.

In addition, another powerful El Nino, perhaps the fourth since 1991, is brewing along the equator. Water temperatures off Oregon already are 5 degrees above normal.