Wild birds in Northwest had beak abnormalities

A study by two federal scientists has observed the highest rate of beak abnormalities ever recorded in wild bird population in Alaska and the Northwest. Beak deformities that were studied by the US Geological Survey in crows in Alaska, Washington and British Colombia follows a pattern found earlier in Alaska’s black capped chickadees.

Researcher biologist Colleen Handel said,” These strange deformities of the beaks is happening more frequent than 10 times what is expected in a wild bird population.
The deformity is called avian keratin disorder but they haven’t found what the cause of this disorder might be that has effect an estimated 17 percent of adult crows in northern western costal Alaska. Adult birds mostly show up with the deformity when the keratin layer of the beak becomes overgrown causing an elongated and often crossed beak ,most often the upper beak but often the lower beak or both .

Abnormal shin and variations in feather color plus elongated claws accompany this unusual disorder. The abnormalities were first observed in 1999 and have increased dramatically in the past decade with 6.5 percent of adult black capped chickadees being affected in Alaska annually.

Increasing numbers of other species are being affected with biologists documenting more than 2,100 cases. Nuthatches and woodpeckers also have been observed with beak deformities.