Observation: I have been seeing this bird every day since I put my feeder out in October. It has a very long bill or beak. He sticks in his beak, gets the seed out of the feeder and then has to throw his head back to get it down to his mouth. He keeps pecking and drops alot of seeds, but is very persistent and finally gets one. He also has trouble storing his feed in the tree. This is the first time I have seen a nuthatch like this. In the twenty years I have had my feeder, this is the first bird I have seen a brid with a deformed beak. I took a bird class then learned that the bills fall off but then they grow back the same. Mike Brubaker with Gillian Brubaker
Resource:
ANTHC-Hub LEO Monthly Webinar: (2014-03-18) LEO presentation, *Beak deformities in wild birds in Alaska (.pdf), presented by Caroline Van Hemert, Research Wildlife Biologist, U.S. Geological Survey, Alaska Science Center. Adobe Connect (Webinar).
Alaska Science Center: Beak Deformities – "Over the past decade, Alaskans have witnessed a startling increase of beak deformities among local birds." Note, this post was transferred to the ASC Beak Deformity and Banded Bird Observation Report, and cataloged. (Source: U.S. Geological Survey)
BioOne: Epizootic of beak deformities among wild birds in Alaska: An Emerging Disease in North America? by Handel C., et al., "The sudden appearance of a large cluster of animals with gross abnormalities may signal a significant change in an ecosystem. We describe an unusual concentration of beak deformities that appear to have arisen rapidly within Alaska and now extend southward along the Pacific Coast." Source: The Auk 127(4):882-898. 2010
Media:
Alaska Dispatch News (2016-04-05), Video: Beak deformities in Alaska black-capped chickadees, by Tara Young, writes, "Beak deformities in black-capped chickadees have persisted in Southcentral Alaska for over 15 years, but researchers say they are making strides toward discovering the cause."
Juneau Empire: (2016-10-25), Long, curved, akimbo: Hope uncovered for bird beak deformity, by Kan Joling, writes, "Biologist Colleen Handel saw her first black-capped chickadee with the heartrending disorder in 1998. The tiny birds showed up at birdfeeders in Alaska’s largest city with freakishly long beaks. Some beaks looked like sprung scissors, unable to come together at the tips. Others curved up or down like crossed sickles."
Alaska Dispatch News (2016-10-30), Newly discovered virus could be behind deformed bird beaks, by Yereth Rosen, writes, "Now scientists have unlocked one important clue that might explain the birds' woes — a previously unknown virus that appears to be closely correlated with the elongated and often twisted beaks."
Alaska Public Media (2016-12-06), Mysterious beak deformities may be caused by virus by Shahla Farzan, KBBI - Homer - "It’s been almost 20 years since large numbers of birds with unusually long beaks first appeared in Alaska. The birds, whose beaks grow at twice the normal rate, often die from starvation because they can’t feed themselves. Researchers now believe a virus may be causing the beak deformities."
