Dayna:

The truth is there is often little one can do for such storm-tossed,
ship-wrecked birds, especially if they are passerines or birds not normally
associated with an oceanic environment, and there is no easy access to a
shore-based recovery clinic. On vessels in AK and off the WA-OR coasts, I
recall that various crew could keep passerines alive for a time by putting
fresh water nearby, and believe it or not there would sometimes be takers.
Yet most were so badly weakened and dehydrated after a storm that they would
only last a day or three before dying, and they could also get picked off by
Larids before that. Danya, it sounds as though the problem is the same as
in the Bering Sea: during night storms, birds are attracted to mast
Halogens and, in their attempt to land aboard in swirling winds, can't see
the rigging lines or other obstructions in the blinding lights and fly into
them.

Of the marine species, on the other hand, I recall that it would often be a
matter of a day or two of resting aboard the vessel unmolested before many
would recover on their own or be "assisted" back over the side. These would
also be much more apt to take fish scraps. However, some had suffered
(presumably) head injuries at landing, and most of these would be found
already dead in various corners, hatches, etc. In the Bering Sea, the
typical dawn "crowd" after a blow would include mostly numbers of fulmars
and ST Shearwaters (the same guys that would follow the vessel in hordes
during daytime), and perhaps a gull or two. Dead birds were rare but
included alcids, FT Storm-Petrel, and others.


Scott Atkinson
Lake Stevens
mail to: scottratkinson at hotmail.com

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