Robin's Blog for Dauphin Island

So sorry to hear about this!

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Pelicans killed by extreme cold; some may have huddled together to stay warm

By Ben Raines

January 12, 2010, 3:24PM

View full size(Courtesy U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service)Pete Tuttle, a biologist with the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, makes notes near a group of dead juvenile pelicans found on Sand Island this week. Some of the coastal birds may have been huddling together behind a sand dune to try to stay warm in the extreme cold.
The bodies of more than 100 pelicans and other birds were found on Sand Island this week when the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service followed up on a tip from the public.

View full size(Courtesy U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service)A dead pelican with an identification tag is seen on Sand Island off the coast of Alabama. Wildlife officials believe it likely was a victim of the extreme cold temperatures in the Deep South.Biologists believe the birds were killed by the extreme cold. Some appeared to have been dead for as long as two weeks, while others had been dead for a day or two, according to officials.

Five birds were sent to the U.S. Geological Survey National Wildlife Health Center in Madison, Wis., for necropsies to pinpoint the cause of death.

The carcasses were all located around the southern tip of Sand Island, which is now a peninsula attached to Dauphin Island on the Alabama coast.

Photos provided by Fish & Wildlife officials show the birds heaped behind small sand dunes as if they died while huddling together to escape cold north winds. All of the pelicans in the photographs appeared to be juvenile birds.

"Local residents tell us it's not uncommon for juvenile birds to die in colder temperatures. But a mortality rate this high is too unusual to be ignored," said Pete Tuttle, a federal biologist.

Most of the dead animals were pelicans, though a few least terns died as well, according to officials.

The Press-Register has also received reports of fish kills, primarily involving mullet, in Dog River and Halls Mill Creek. Fish kills have occurred around Mobile Bay during extreme cold weather several times in the last 10 years. 

View full size(Courtesy U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service)Two U.S. Fish and Wildlife biologists examine a dead pelican found this week on Sand Island near Dauphin Island, Ala. The large coastal birds likely were killed by sub-freezing temperatures along the coast in the past week.