5 to 6 thousand dead birds wash up on Ontario Beach.

[Donna]

http://om.visibli.com/share/dEkcFT This is devastating.

[Annette]

    

[Dot_Forrester]

http://om.visibli.com/share/dEkcFT This is devastating.

This link does not work for me.

Dot in PA

[Donna]

The Ministry of Natural Resources is investigating after hundreds of birds and fish washed up on the shores of Georgian Bay near Wasaga Beach.

Police say that the wildlife is scattered along a nearly three-kilometre stretch north of Wasaga Beach.

"You just want to cry," resident Faye Ego told CTV Toronto.

Locals said they noticed some dead fish on the beach a few weeks ago and a few dead birds earlier in September.

"But now this is just multiplied," Ego said, adding that the situation is "absolutely devastating."

Ontario Provincial Police Const. Peter Leon said that the number of dead birds is estimated to be between 5,000 and 6,000.

Cindy Parkin, a resident of the area, said that answers are needed.

"I'd like to get it cleaned up and figure out what it is, too," Parkin said. "It's pretty scary."

Ministry of Natural Resources officials said that the deaths could be the result of botulism.

Botulism thrives in low oxygen environments often found in zebra mussel colonies.

The Ministry said that more testing needs to be done.

[Dot_Forrester]

Thanks, Donna, for posting the news item in full.  Interesting that the subject title says 5-6 thousand and the clipping says hundreds.  Either way, very sad.  Hope they can determine the cause quickly.

Dot in PA

[Donna]

Botulism blamed for 6,000 dead birds on Georgian Bay shore.

It started with a few dead sturgeon and carp in late August. By mid-September, boaters had begun discovering the odd dead gull or duck.

Then, this weekend, residents around Georgian Bay awoke to see their shoreline clogged with more than 6,000 dead birds.

The culprit behind the “die-off,� locals and experts suspect, is type E botulism, a lethal neutoroxin. “And this is just the beginning,� said Bob Bowles, a field naturalist based in Orillia, one hour east of Wasaga Beach, where most of the birds were found
The birds were killed during their annual migration from breeding grounds in northern Canada to winter on Lake Ontario and the Atlantic Coast.

As more species swing down through the area en route to wintering grounds, they too will be claimed by the waters around Wasaga Beach, Mr. Bowles said. “Into November we’ll be seeing a lot more dead birds,� he said. “Only the cold weather can stop the chain.�

The naturally occurring bacterium that causes botulism has long existed in sediment at the bottom Lake Huron, but remained relatively harmless until the 1980s.

It was during that decade when the zebra mussel and the round goby were inadvertently brought to the area in the ballast tanks of Great Lakes freighters.

The two invasive species act as filters for the lake water and accumulate dangerous amounts of the toxin.

When fish eat the mussels or the goby, they are slowed down by the early stages of the poi—son, making them easy pickings for passing flocks of migrating predatory birds.

After a few meals of contaminated seafood, the birds — be they gulls, ducks or even eagles — drown after their muscles seize up from the poison.

“They’re just in the wrong place at the wrong time,� said Tyler Hoar, an Oshawa—based consultant biologist.

As the birds’ contaminated bodies wash ashore, the botulism toxin can then spread to land scavengers such as coyotes and foxes.

Only turkey vultures have been found to successfully digest the toxin. This year, turkey vultures have delayed their own migration to Pennsylvania in order to capitalize on the thousands of dead birds and fish piling up on Wasaga Beach.

“I have seen it before but never this size,� said George Peck, a research associate in ornithology at the Royal Ontario Museum.

On Sunday, Mr. Peck described strolling a section of beach littered with loons, grebes and ducks.

When zebra mussels and round gobies first arrived, they were quickly seized upon by local birds as a plentiful and easy source of food — irrecoverably altering the local food chain.

“We all knew this was not a good thing, but for a while there we had quite a few more ducks and geese,� observed local birder Linda Crome.

Every once in a while, the lakes would experience “little die-offs,� but never to the extent seen over the weekend, Ms. Crome said.

National Post