The impact of the Gulf oil spill on shorebirds wintering in west coast of Florida is uncertain but likely. Even less is known of the impact on Atlantic Coast wintering and migrant shorebirds. The best of all situations is that the oil is recovered before July. If not, shorebirds from the Arctic will be using Atlantic Coast beaches first than Gulf Coast beaches. Even small amounts of oil in the surf can injure shorebirds because they forage in the “swash zone”, the area between water and dry beach washed by ocean waves. Even small spills result in small globs of oil in the swash zone.
Shorebirds caught in the Anitra spill, that took place at the mouth of the Delaware Bay in 1996, were only slightly tinged with oil. Dr. Joanna Burger of Rutgers found that shorebirds repeatedly ingested the oil by preening their feathers ultimately leaving them unable to accumulate the weight necessary to continue their migration. Impacts to migrant shorebirds were included in the final settlement.
I am alarmed about the impact to Atlantic coast shorebirds because of an oil spill simulation using dye conducted by National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) and supported by the National Science Foundation. The simulation clearly points out the danger to Atlantic Coast beaches 3 months after the spill or July, the month when southbound Arctic shorebirds hit Atlantic Beaches.
