Experts meet to discuss dangers to local birds

Pelicans thrashing and twisting unnaturally in the grip of seizures, pregnant sea lions dying in agony, and birds that flew strangely and fell out of the sky — all were scenes witnessed during an outbreak of a natural toxin last year. It wasn’t the first time that a huge bloom of plankton in the ocean released deadly domoic acid into the food chain, but it was one of the worst.

With the same season now at hand, officials from agencies across the region gathered at the Wetlands and Wildlife Care Center in Huntington Beach to hear what they might face. No one knew if another record year would hit, but experts talked on how best to keep an eye out and what to do. Even if it’s a more moderate year, they hope to learn more.

“It usually begins mid-February when we see some affected mammals,” the center’s wildlife director Debbie McGuire said. “I think it’s mid-February today.”

The effect on birds follows six to seven weeks later, said Susan Kaveggia of the California Council of Wildlife Rehabilitators. She urged groups to keep collecting stricken birds for sampling.

Domoic acid comes from blooms of algae that flourish between mid-February and the end of May. The problem is that no one can pin down just what triggers the blooms, USC researcher Astrid Schnetzer said. And so far it takes an electron microscope to identify whether the right tiny plankton is present, she said.

“Generally I think we’re just looking at tip of the iceberg here,” she said.

The symptoms are better understood. McGuire described the telltale “bobbing and weaving” of a severe case, where birds shake their heads left to right, even twisting their heads backwards. She said that quick medical attention, flushing out the poison by injecting fluids heavily.

“If you can recognize it and get them into care at the closest facility quickly enough, we are able to rehabilitate them and release them,” she said.

Domoic acid is a powerful neurotoxin that makes its way up the food chain through shellfish and small fish like sardines, she said. In large enough quantities, it makes the nervous system fire nonstop – causing the seizures – till neurons burn themselves out, wreaking havoc on the heart, memory, and other functions. Worse, the peak season is when brown pelicans nurture their young and when sea lions are in the last month of pregnancy.

Last year was the biggest domoic acid event on record in Southern California, Schnetzer said. It was the second-highest measurement ever on the West Coast, and it brought wide media attention to the issue, she said.

“If you see birds flying out of the sky hitting people on bikes, you get people making phone calls,” she said.

McGuire said she noticed the severity last year, saying birds came in so poisoned that they often didn’t even have a chance. In other years, more than two thirds have been saved.

“That is our goal,” she said. “To get them better.”