Oiled birds

[zandperl]

Less than 1% of oiled birds survive. Somebody want to explain to me why? What actually kills them? Is it predators? Ingestion of oil (and if so, is the oil toxic or does it disrupt normal digestion)? Temperature regulation? Insufficient buoyancy? What?

Edit: The correct answer is, (E) All of the above.

Comments

[calzephyr77]

I saw this on birdlovers recently...I think it's the ingestion of oil, plus probably the stress of being caught.

Having said that, I'm touched that your mood piccie looks like Jill and Moxie :-)

[rubicat]

From what I understand, oil affects the feathers of birds, exposing them to extremes in temperature (cold water, hot sun). Then they try to preen themselves and ingest the oil, which is toxic; usually they beach themselves to get out of the cold, and get dehydrated and undernourished.

I did a quick search, and this is a pretty great explanation:
http://www.ibrrc.org/oil_affects.html

[zandperl]

Thanks for finding that link for me. Man, it makes me want to cry. I'm going to have to donate to Audubon or somesuch when I get back from this weekend's trip.