Bird washers hard at work as Gulf spill toll grows

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An oil-covered brown pelican sits in a pool of oil along Queen Bess Island Pelican Rookery, three miles (4.8 km) northeast of Grand Isle, Louisiana June 5, 2010.
Wildlife experts are working to rescue birds from the rookery which has
been affected by BP's Gulf of Mexico oil spill, and transporting them to
the Fort Jackson Rehabilitation Center.

Credit: Reuters/Sean Gardner

VENICE Louisiana (Reuters) - About 25 brown pelicans shivered and tried to clean their oil-soaked feathers on Saturday in a pen at a Louisiana bird rehabilitation center, as the Gulf
of of Mexico" onclick="Reuters.article.trackInlineLink(14)"">Mexico oil
spill's impact on wildlife worsened.

U.S. | Green Business | Gulf Oil Spill

The number of birds brought to the Fort Jackson Bird Rehabilitation Center in Venice, Louisiana, where workers hired by BP wash the birds, has jumped in the past two days as a huge
oil slick edges closer to vital nesting and breeding grounds.

A total of 157 birds found in state waters have been treated at the center, where they receive a vigorous scrubbing, since the oil started leaking from a ruptured BP well almost
seven weeks ago.

But 66 birds, mostly brown pelicans, arrived in just the past two days, raising alarm bells. The brown pelican is Louisiana's state bird and only was taken
off the endangered species list just last year amid attempts to restore
its population.

"This could be a major setback for that effort," said James Harris, a biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service who has spent the last 20 years working
with others to restore Louisiana's brown pelican population.

"I recognize that these are not my pelicans, but it's hard not to be personally vested in it."

The birds brought to the center are plucked from oil soaked waters that now ring Louisiana's fragile barrier islands and marshes. The feathers of oiled birds become matted and separate,
leaving them vulnerable to heat or cold.

They also try to preen, or clean their feathers with their beak or bill, risking a sickening or fatal ingestion of oil.

The marshy areas around the rehabilitation center are so far untouched by the slick, and are teeming with birds. Snowy-white egrets peck at the ground or scan shallow waters for food,
while gulls and terns fly overhead.

But on Saturday, brisk winds pushed oil over some of the containment booms meant to keep the crude away from the coast, ringing a nearby brown
pelican rookery and leaving the birds standing in a watery crude oil
soup.

"We are receiving birds today, but we don't know how many," Jay Holcomb, executive director for the International Bird Rescue Research Center told reporters. "This oil
is really gooey," he added.

BATH OF LIFE

Once brought to the center, the birds are treated for dehydration and other conditions and fed before the difficult clean-up operation begins.

Because the crude that clings to the pelicans' feathers is so sticky, they are first bathed in warmed vegetable oil.

In the next step, workers armed with toothbrushes and dishwashing liquid scrub the birds for about 45 minutes. The brown pelicans, which have wingspans as wide
as 8 feet typically struggle during the process.

After the birds are dried and receive a health check, they are banded for identification purposes and flown to Florida by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The spill's toll on the
Gulf coast bird population will not be known for some time -- for
example, some rehabilitated birds may survive but might not breed again.

"We really won't know much until the next breeding season," Tom Bancroft, chief scientist for the National Audubon Society, said in a telephone interview.

According to the latest report issued by the U.S. government on Saturday, 547 birds across the Gulf coast have been collected dead, but not all of
those animals showed signs of contact with oil.

But the government's numbers tell only part of the story. "Some (birds) just sink under the water and will never be counted," Bancroft said.

(Additional reporting by Sarah Irwin; Editing by Ros Krasny and Paul Simao)/