Paul Guris
02-13-2011, 08:59 PM
Back in the late 1980s to early 1990s, any New Jersey pelagic that had a number of Kittiwakes was bound to turn up a few birds with oil stains. Thankfully, that has become a real rarity. It seemed that Kittiwakes resided in places where dumped oil was not uncommon.
On a pelagic I ran out of Delaware on Feb. 5, we unfortunately found an oiled Herring Gull. It's been a while since I've seen an oiled bird, and well over a decade since I've seen one this bad. It's obvious that the oil has been spread by the bird's preening. Hopefully this is a one-off event, but I know there has been concern since the BP disaster that oil would come up the Gulf Stream in quantity and harm birds off of our shores.
Here is a photo of the birds side and dorsal. I'll follow up with an underwing detail shot.
88479
On a pelagic I ran out of Delaware on Feb. 5, we unfortunately found an oiled Herring Gull. It's been a while since I've seen an oiled bird, and well over a decade since I've seen one this bad. It's obvious that the oil has been spread by the bird's preening. Hopefully this is a one-off event, but I know there has been concern since the BP disaster that oil would come up the Gulf Stream in quantity and harm birds off of our shores.
Here is a photo of the birds side and dorsal. I'll follow up with an underwing detail shot.
88479