The Pacoche Marine Reserve in Ecuador documented 786 hundred dead bird species in the first week of June, as well as in areas that were regarded as environmental refuges occurring simultaneously with the presence of the H5N1 avian influenza virus that has already killed hundreds of thousands of seabirds in the region.
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According to the Ministry of the Environment, one of the most trustworthy theories is that the "El Niño" phenomenon is the reason for "the lack of food supply" for various species, including birds. The tropical Pacific's seas are home to El Niño, the king of climatic phenomena affecting the waters of the Tropical Pacific. Its arrival, scheduled for November or December in Ecuador, means extreme warming of the oceans.
According to Luis Cumba, undersecretary of the Ministry of Environment, "There are no signs that the deaths are caused by a viral process, which affects all migratory birds." The environmental authorities have found 783 migratory bird carcasses as of the first week of June. According to Paolo Piedrahita, a research professor at the Higher Polytechnic School of the Coast, birds rely only on the fish that the seas produce for nourishment.
When the ocean, or in this case the coastline, is warmed by the incidence of El Niño, the supply of fish decreases. In addition, marine species, even with a slight variation in sea temperature, modify their behavior, affecting their predators, such as birds.
Amid the alert thousands of black cormorants are reportedly appearing on the Ecuador beaches. Most of them come from Peru, where researchers are on the alert for the presence of the coastal El Niño.
"These migrations correspond to oceanographic events related to the variation of the surface temperature of the sea," adds Piedrahita. These trips can last hours, days, or weeks, but the problem occurs when the birds cannot find food in the regions where they fly. For this reason, he warns that the massive appearance of birds is not 'normal' either, since the distribution ranges of birds are established according to where they can "reproduce and feed directly from the sea."
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