Summary
Scientists have found many dead seabirds along the California coast, likely because warm ocean waters have reduced the cold, nutrient-rich areas where their food lives. With a strong El Niño weather pattern developing, experts worry the situation could get worse and more seabirds may die.Key Facts
- Scientists and volunteers regularly survey dead seabirds on California beaches.
- Many seabirds, like brown pelicans and cormorants, died from starvation due to warm ocean temperatures.
- The warm water reduces the cold, nutrient-rich surface layer where small fish and krill live.
- El Niño, a natural warming of the Pacific Ocean, formed in June and is expected to become very strong.
- Similar die-offs have happened before but are becoming more frequent with global warming.
- Scripps Institution of Oceanography recorded some of the highest coastal water temperatures on record.
- Warm ocean water drives cold-water animals deeper or farther north, disrupting the food chain.
- Wildlife rescue groups treated hundreds of very thin birds in the spring as the heat wave intensified.
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