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Mortality puffin. Possible causes in the forest Snow

Puffin bordered on the beach Aguilar (Asturies)

almost 15 days are popping lots of puffin (Fratercula arctica ) bordered on Cantabrian beaches. The first sounded the alarm was Jesus Menendez, who found several examples in Cantabria. Since then the trickle of cadavers has been continuous and almost every day they appeared birds, both young and old. In

Initially it appeared that it was a death caused by a spillage of oil, maybe not great but if a sentinazo discharge caused by the illegal practice of tank cleaning performed many ships at sea. However, although some individuals showed traces of hydrocarbons in the digestive system, the vast majority were completely clean. Moreover, the fact that mortality affects only puffins and other species not alcid as auks and guillemots, which die en masse during episodes of contamination by oil, seemed to rule out that possibility.

In order
to conduct a more thorough exploration of the Asturian beaches last weekend several people toured the coast of Asturias noting the number of puffins bordered within an activity (Bird Coastal Inspection Riverside-ICAO) organized by the Iberian Group Seabirds . Porteriormente, birds found would be deposited in a collection points for Environment Nursery take them to the facilities of the Animal Health Laboratory Xove (Gijón) for analysis.

We do not have all the data but so far have found about 40 bodies recovered in Asturies. Keep in mind that this number is only a small fraction of the number of dead individuals, and that much of the dead birds do not reach the coast and many of those that do go unnoticed or are preyed on by foxes, dogs or other animals.

young Puffin Wing (left) and adult (right) dead on the beach of Santa Gadea. Photo: MF Pajuelo

first thing unveiled the first field analysis was that most adults were in the throes of change at the time of his death. As seen in previous fotografñia, these birds were moving the primaries so they were completely unable to fly, however the juveniles had not yet changed these pens.

Puffins are seabirds that spend the winter a few miles from the coast, usually in areas bordering the continental shelf and slope. These areas are very productive and there is feed mostly on plankton, which is then exchanged for fish when they arrive at their breeding colonies. During molting the puffins fly and do not need that rest on the surface of the water and only have to look for food dive.

Details puffin beak of a young (left) and adult (right) at Santa Gadea. Photo: MF Pajuelo

Although there will still be to analyze the bodies and see if there is any pathology that may have caused mass mortality in the species, it seems that has been treated for an episode of mortality caused by a lack of food associated with heavy storms a few weeks ago . These episodes of severe storms hinder the capture of food to seabirds, and even more if they are physically depleted as in this case, and may also produce changes in food availability. When you have the hang latest information on the blog.

Finally I would like to acknowledge the work of Manolo Pajuelo who coordinated the coastal inspection of the weekend and the work of all volunteers of Asturias and other provinces, who walked the beaches looking for puffins.

BTO Note on the mortality of puffins in the Bay of Biscay, several ringed in Britain