30,000 sea birds found dead on the beaches plus at least the same number of birds oil soaked and facing death. A number of dead dolphins are now found dead on the beaches as well. This might have been the biggest ecological catastrophe facing Russia since the Chernobyl catastrophe states one newspaper:
Los Angeles Times: 'Russian workers point to oil as the problem'
An oiled Grebe in the Black Sea area :
http://www.ibrrc.org/russia07_spill_response.html
An international rescue team has now arrived to the Russian side of the border to help wildlife.
From a Russian site ( Babelfish translation):
" On the arrival immediately they left to call on the birds, which washed clean from the petroleum residue 3 days ago the volunteers from the society of hunters and fishermen, whom first instructed our colleagues. To them no one was occupied by the rescuing of the birds of Ryy; basic forces are to cleaning of coast.
Of 150 birds, which they washed clean and planted into the cells to dry and to come into themselves, only 25 perished on the first night, 34 weakest still they remain in the cells, and rest already they had time to let out in the safe place of Ryy; they completely arrived into themselves!
From the remained birds half is also ready to release, and half must be still held in the cells.
"taking into account that cleaned these birds volunteers of Ryy; not specialists -ornitogi, I count they they accomplished remarkable work"- said Valentina kozlitins the chief veterinary surgeon from the Moscow zoo.
Hi Ian,
One of the most abundant species in the Baltic Sea are the nice and cute long tailed ducks:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long-tailed_Duck
Population numbers : about 4,5 million ducks
Wintering ground : Baltic Sea
I have not the stats but methinks an average life span of an ordinary sea bird is about 20 years
The long tailed ducks have this uncomfortable habit to land in oil spill areas in the seas as it's not a myth that the waters are calmer when they are oily.
Personally I have not heard about 500 000 birds perished annually but about 100 000 long tailed ducks die annually in oil spills.( But note it's very difficult to count the numbers on the high seas)
That seems like a big number but what is the total population of water birds in the Baltic Sea? And what is their life spans, annual birth rates and mortality?