Ailing brown pelicans may be victims of frostbite

[XemaSab]

Pelican No. 4 has a typical injury for a California waterbird: a puncture from a fishhook in its left wing.

But No. 93 has no visible injuries; it's just weak and hungry. And the condition of a third pelican shows that something is seriously amiss with this weary flock: dead, black skin on its webbed feet.

At the International Bird Rescue Research Center here, veterinarians and volunteers are nursing dozens of endangered California brown pelicans suffering from a mystery illness that has left them weak and disoriented.

There are about 60 pelicans at the Fairfield center and another 100 or so at its sister facility in San Pedro, near Long Beach. About 200 more have died in the wild.

http://www.sacbee.com/topstories/story/1549982.html

(This article gets more interesting further in, but I didn't see a good place to cut and paste.)

[Delphinus]

1. This is sad.

They aren't sure - too many theories to really *know* for sure - but the climate changes are probably playing a key role in this. Polar bears on shrinking ice; pelicans with frostbite ... I'm afraid the list is going to grow.