Sick and dead birds found on beach

The Wetlands and Wildlife Care Center reported a rash of sick or dead birds in Huntington Beach Thursday. No one knows what is killing them, but those still alive are semi-paralyzed, workers said.

Sick or dead sanderlings and western snowy plovers started appearing at 9:45 a.m. Thursday, center volunteer Sharon Weeks said. As of 2 p.m. Wednesday, there were 23 living and four dead birds at the center, with numbers going up by the minute, she said. The plover is listed federally as a threatened species.

The afflicted birds are mostly showing up in sections of Huntington State Beach just north of the Santa Ana River, the center’s Wildlife Director Debbie McGuire said.

“The Coast Guard was looking at the Santa Ana River” as a possible source of the contamination, she said. “The current is going north right now.”

Whatever is hurting these birds, it’s not likely the domoic acid produced by the toxic diatom pseudonitzschia, she added. Shorebirds like sanderlings and plovers don’t eat the fish that spreads that toxin, which killed hundreds of birds and sea mammals along the coast this spring.

The center is sending out materials to be tested for pesticides, bacteria, viruses, and other factors, McGuire said. Agencies involved range from the National Wildlife Center to the Environmental Protection Agency.

“There are a lot of other agencies getting involved right now looking into what the cause may be,” she said. “But if you don’t test for the right thing, you may not ever be able to identify it.”

In the meantime, workers are trying to keep the surviving birds alive by warming them in incubators and keeping them hydrated, she said.