Radio Script
2000

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Bent Beaks at the Bird Feeder
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INTRO: All over southcentral Alaska, people watching their bird feeders are reporting a disturbing sight. As Doug Schneider reports in this week's Arctic Science Journeys Radio, some birds that come to the feeders for an easy meal have deformed beaks.

STORY: Ten years ago, only three black-capped chickadees were spotted with deformed beaks in Alaska. Since then, the number of sightings has grown exponentially. That's according to Colleen Handel, a research wildlife biologist with the Alaska Biological Science Center in Anchorage.

HANDEL: "So far, we've documented 350 reports of black-capped chickadees with bill deformities in Alaska, and then 14 other species of birds with bill deformities, but numbers of them are much lower."

Most reports have come from people in the Anchorage area, but deformed birds also have been spotted in Bristol Bay, and even as far north as Fairbanks, where two chickadees were spotted with malformed beaks.

HANDEL: "The most common scenario is that the upper part of the bill is grossly overgrown. It is sometimes two to three times the normal length. In some birds the bill is so overgrown that it comes back around and almost pierces the bird's own breast. That's generally the pattern. It's really quite variable. In some cases it's not too noticeable, but in others it's so gross that it's difficult to believe that it's a little chickadee."

Bird beaks are made of fingernail-like material that wears down naturally as the bird pecks on trees and otherwise forages for food. But for reasons not yet understood, hundreds of birds--including magpies, woodpeckers, and nuthatches--have crossed and curled beaks that won't wear down. Although the deformities make it hard for birds to pick up food, Handel says some birds have managed to adapt.

HANDEL: "The birds themselves, I think, have a great difficulty in surviving, although it's amazing to watch some of them and how adaptable they are. What people are reporting is that these individuals with grossly overgrown bills are only able to survive by feeding on soft foods like suet and peanut butter that are provided at feeders. And a lot of times in cold weather they can't even peck off pieces of suet, and so many of them can only resort to picking up pieces of suet that have been pecked off and dropped by other birds. So a lot of the chickadees end up feeding on the ground, picking up little pieces of suet that have dropped, and that's the only way they can survive. When they're picking up their food they have to turn their heads sideways and it takes a lot longer to feed, so they end up camping at feeders."

Scientists don't know what's causing the deformities, but natural causes, such as flying into a window, have been eliminated.

HANDEL: "The question is, what can be causing this many in such a short time period? That's what leads me to think that it's not something that's natural."

Handel thinks the problem might be pollution. Scientists have found trace levels of PCBs and DDE, a derivative of the pesticide DDT. And they've found irregularities in the bird's genetic makeup. But thus far they haven't been able to pinpoint any cause conclusively. And says Handel, they likely won't.

HANDEL: "By the time you examine a bird, it could have flushed whatever caused the deformity in the first place from its system, and all you see is the deformity that remains."

Although bird deformities occur naturally in the wild, nowhere but in Alaska have so many deformities turned up. Since 1986, only eight sightings of chickadees with deformed beaks have been made in all of North America. In that time, more than 350 such sightings have been made in Alaska.

OUTRO: This is Arctic Science Journeys Radio, a production of the Alaska Sea Grant Program and the University of Alaska Fairbanks. I'm Doug Schneider.

Thanks to the following individual for help in preparing this script:

Colleen Handel
U.S. Geological Survey
Alaska Biological Science Center
1011 E. Tudor Rd.
Anchorage, AK 99503
907-786-3418
colleen_handel@usgs.gov

For more information about bird deformities check out these web sites: http://www.absc.usgs.gov/research/vet/crossed.htm

http://www.absc.usgs.gov/research/bpif/requests%5Fold.html