I've just talked at great length with Chris Thompson, an ornithologist who
works for the WA Dept. of Fish & Wildlife. He and others at the Burke
Museum have looked at a lot of dead fulmars, and so far they have found no
evidence that would contradict a hypothesis that the birds died of
starvation (presumably from either inadequate prey supply [already
existing] and/or difficulty in feeding [because of the storm]).

They're still continuing with a very detailed analysis, and another study
is being done in BC. I haven't heard whether the Oregonians are similarly
engaged.

Surprisingly, light-morph birds are represented at higher frequency among
the beached birds than out at sea, which must indicate something of
interest yet to be determined. Light-morph fulmars mostly come from Bering
Sea islands such as the Pribilofs, dark-morph mostly from the Aleutians.
In the tiny sample examined at the Slater Museum, the 2 light birds were
immatures, the 8 dark ones adults. Perhaps only immature fulmars come all
the way down here from the Bering Sea, and they are more likely to perish
at such times than adults. VERY speculative and based on much too small a
sample, but the large samples being studied elsewhere will certainly
confirm or refute it.

Dennis Paulson phone: (206) 756-3798
Slater Museum of Natural History fax: (206) 756-3352
University of Puget Sound e-mail: dpaulson at ups.edu
Tacoma, WA 98416