Mystery of Bizarre Bird Deformities May Be Solved
For two decades, bird experts in Alaska have been puzzled by the twisted beaks of chickadees and other backyard birds. Now they worry the disorder is spreading.
Anchorage, AlaskaScientists working with sophisticated DNA sequencing technology think they may have solved a 20-year-old mystery of what has caused thousands of Alaska’s wild birds to be afflicted with deformed, twisted beaks.
The findings suggest that a newly discovered virus – poecivirus – may be the culprit behind the bizarre beak deformities in chickadees, crows, and other birds. Birds with the defective beaks, which sometimes cross like warped chopsticks, starve to death or die early.
The virus may endanger the health of bird populations around the world, particularly sensitive endangered species, says Colleen Handel, a research wildlife biologist with the U.S. Geological Survey in Anchorage.
Already the deformities seem to be spreading: Bird watchers in the Pacific Northwest, Great Britain, India, and South America
