A Mystery of Seabirds, Blown Off Course and Starving
Hundreds of shearwaters arrived dying and dead
on shores around New York City. Scientists
suspect weather patterns altered by climate change.
“The birds are extremely thin and anemic,” Mr. Okoniewski said. “The big mystery is: Why are they thin? On the surface it looks like you know what happened: They starved. But when you ask why, it becomes much more of a mystery.”
The vast expanses of the ocean remain some of the most vital and hard-to-study environments on the planet. As scientists work to comprehend the scope of climate change, they often look to seabirds to tell stories from the world’s most inaccessible waters. Pelagic birds, which refers to seabirds that spend the majority of their lives at sea and rarely venture to the shore, traverse various regions and climates, are affected by extreme weather patterns and feed on prey exposed to carbon emissions — all while staying relatively observable above the water’s surface.