Observation by Gregory Kingsley:
I observed about 275 dead birds (sooty shearwaters?) on the beach north of Pilot Point. They were fairly evenly spaced. They have probably been there for about a week. This time last year there was another die-off of the same kind of birds.
Julia Parrish, Executive Director of the Coastal Observation and Seabird Survey Team (COASST), writes:
Totally interesting! I’m including the COASST science coordinator (Hillary Burgess) and postdoc (Tim Jones) on this reply, as I know they will be interested. I am also including Kathy Kuletz, from US Fish and Wildlife Survey in this reply. Kathy’s team does a lot of at-sea surveys throughout Alaskan waters. These birds are definitely shearwaters. The traditional way that birders tell the difference between sooty shearwaters and short-tailed shearwaters is the underwing linings (the non-flight feathers). Sooties tend to have white underwing linings, while those of the short-tailed are more gray-to-brown. Unfortunately, both species display a range of underwing lining coloration, so using this clue alone is not enough. COASST measures the bill, from the “hairline” centrally down the middle of the bill to the tip (this straight-line distance is referred to in ornithology as the culmen), for a definitive identification. Sooty shearwaters have a culmen range between 38 and 47 millimeters (mm) in Alaskan waters. Short-tailed shearwaters have a culmen range between 29 and 34 mm, so short-tailed should have been named “short-billed.” The other two measurements COASST makes (the wing, from wrist to tip of the longest feather, and the foot, from the ankle joint to the tip of the toe knuckles) overlap between these two species. Die-offs of shearwaters are not uncommon in Alaska, as millions of these birds migrate from the southern hemisphere up into the Bering and Chukchi. Ken Steneck and I found a bunch (both species) on the beaches of Shishmaref just last week. Very occasionally, there are reports of hundreds of thousands of these birds dying, as was the case in 1997 in the Bering.
Kathy Kluetz, Seabird Coordinator with the US Fish and Wildlife Service, writes:
Thanks for sharing this information. We'll include it in the 'Dead bird' database we've had now for over a year. It would be very useful if the person making this report could provide an estimate of the distance of beach where the birds were found, or the extent he was able to traverse when he found them. Also, the map is helpful, but do they also have lat/long of the beach? Thanks for reporting and including photographs.
Robb Kaler with COASST writes:
Feel free to call or write with questions. Thanks again for reaching out with this info. These are the types of observations that help us track the duration and magnitude of seabird wrecks!
Resource:
Alaska Seabird Information Series, Sooty Shearwater (Puffinus griseus) is one of the most abundant seabirds in the world and is common in the pelagic waters of Alaska during the northern summer. Although this large, solid-bodied shearwater is found in oceans throughout the world, it is only known to breed in the Southern Hemisphere (during the northern winter). Source: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Seabirds and Forage Fish Ecology Program: Sooty Shearwaters - Sooty and Short-tailed Shearwaters (Puffinus griseus and Puffinus tenuirostris) are closely related species that we often see while surveying the open ocean. Shearwaters are members of the Procellariidae family, known as the "tube-noses". They fly north in unbelievably huge numbers, often in seemingly endless streams-- Russian observers living on the Bering Sea coast speak of seeing unbroken streams of shearwaters flying past for days at a time. Shearwaters are also a common scavenger species, gathering in frantic swarms around fishing vessel to gorge on their fish discards. Source: Alaska Science Center, USGS
Observations From Members