Something strange is happening to birds along the West Coast, Dateline Earth’s Robert McClure reports: avians sporting deformed, overgrown beaks have been spotted from Alaska to California. The deformities can inhibit the afflicted birds’ ability to feed, threatening their survival.
This “long-billed syndrome” has been recorded in about 160 birds by a Skagit County researcher, mostly in Western Washington and southern British Columbia and mostly since 2000. It’s also documented in more than 2,100 birds in Alaska, where the phenomenon seems to have started affecting lots of birds in the early 1990s.
Researchers say the weird beaks appear to be concentrated in Alaska and the Pacific Northwest, although reports are coming in from farther south — from Southern California in one case earlier this month.
What’s the cause? That remains a mystery. A small band of puzzled, poorly funded scientists is scrambling to find answers. Could it be chemicals? Something genetic? A disease? Maybe a combination?
Could it affect humans? …