A few weeks ago, we told you about birds dying and washing ashore around Morro Bay. Now, we’re hearing from more people finding the birds farther south, including in Grover Beach.
We’ve been getting lots of common murres washing up onto beaches,” said Pacific Wildlife Care Development Coordinator Kelley Boland. “They shouldn’t be here on beaches. They live on the open ocean, and it’s really rare to see one on a beach. If it’s on a beach, you know something’s going wrong.
Common murres have been washing up in record numbers along the Central Coast for weeks. In that time, Pacific Wildlife Care staff in Morro Bay say theyve taken in more than 800 birds between Sept. 1 and Oct. 15 for rehabilitation. From Oct. 9-12, they admitted 165 Murres alone.
Boland said the birds are facing a mass starvation event and this years unprecedented El Nio is part of the reason.
KSBY’s Jim Castillo said the ocean temperatures are higher than usual because of the El Nio.
We’re seeing well above average sea surface temperatures,” Castillo said. “It’s a problem because we haven’t seen it this high, even in Southern California, in so long.
Boland said these warmer waters are directly impacting the murre’s food supply.
Warm water ocean temperatures will drive these prey fish that the murres depend on into deeper, colder water, and if their prey is a lot deeper and harder to get to, that just means theyre spending more energy every time they have to dive for a fish,” Boland said.
But Boland said warmer waters aren’t the only reason. This time of year is when chicks are leaving the breeding grounds, but still struggle to find their own food. The murres are also flightless because around this time, they molt all of their flight feathers at once.
If that’s happening right now and they are flightless and unable to leave an area that has low food availability, that could be playing a factor,” she said.
There has been some hope for the birds. Boland said Pacific Wildlife has been able to re-release two groups of Murres back into the ocean.
We’re really excited to see them get better in care and be able to be released,” she said.
Boland said if people find common murres on beaches and they are still alive, they should call their wildlife hotline at (805) 543-9453 (WILD).
You can also visit their website to donate to the center and support their rehabilitation efforts.
The nonprofit can only help birds that are still alive. Californias Department of Fish and Wildlife is in charge of the carcasses that are on the beaches. In a statement, the department said:
Our Wildlife Health Lab is still working through birds that have been submitted. We are waiting for test results to come back and are compiling a summary of mortality reports. We hope to have more information next week.