57°

Blackcap chickadees, Northwestern crows and 25 other species of birds in Alaska have been reported with beaks up to three times as long as the normal size. The deformity often strikes mature birds and reduces their ability to feed and preen effectively. In many birds, the deformity leads to death.

"We don't know what's causing the problem," said Colleen Handel, a wildlife biologist with the U.S. Geological Survey's Alaska Science Center in Anchorage. She's been studying the beak deformities for five years.

The center has received 1,600 reports of deformed beaks in Alaska, compared with only 12 reports of beak deformities in the rest of North America combined. Those deformities could have been caused by genetic mutations.

But the beak deformity in Alaska's birds is most likely caused by something other than DNA, Handel said.

"With such a broad geographic range, you look for something that could be occurring over a broad area, and that immediately calls to mind something like contaminants or a disease organism that could be affecting a large area," Handel said.

Tests on affected birds have shown no specific parasite or disease, and only low levels of contaminants.

One contaminant that has been higher in deformed birds than in healthy birds is DDE, a metabolized form of the pesticide DDT. Though outlawed in the U.S. and Canada, DDT is still used in many third world countries. It can find its way to Alaska via water or air, Handel said.

But because deformed beaks were never recorded when DDT was used abundantly in the U.S., Handel doesn't think DDT is responsible for the deformed beaks. She has collected 40 blackcap chickadees with beak deformities and is having them analyzed for other contaminants.

The fact that the deformity is showing up in other species of birds and in Southeast Alaska is alarming to some scientists.

Michelle Kissling, a biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Juneau and an avid birder, has seen two crows with beak deformities, both in the Auke Bay area.

"The first thing I realized was that whatever it is, it's either being transmitted by birds that are migrating here or mating with Alaska birds," Kissling said. "Since it's not stuck in the Anchorage bowl, it's not tied to a point source such as an oil spill or something like that."

Though no studies are being done on birds with the beak deformity in Southeast Alaska, Handel is asking that all sightings of deformed birds be reported to her office.

Deborah Rudis, an environmental contaminants biologist for the Fish and Wildlife Service, has spoken with Handel about trapping birds in Southeast Alaska for analysis. She has seen deformed birds here at three locations.

"I did a super double take because I just couldn't believe that a bird's beak was curved down as much as it was," said Rudis.

Because they are bigger and more capable of fending for themselves, deformed crows may live longer than deformed chickadees. But the birds could only survive, not thrive, Rudis said.

For most species of birds, the deformities affect the cartilage-like outer portion of the beak, Handel said. Like human fingernails, the keratin in this portion of the beak keeps growing throughout a bird's life and is worn away through use.

In some birds, Handel has recorded the top beak tripling in length in as few as three months. This leads her to believe that the deformity is caused by a problem in the growth mechanism and not in the bird's ability to wear down its beak.

Besides caring for the health of Alaska's wildlife, Alaskans should be concerned about the human health implications, Handel said.

"In the back of my mind I always wonder what else might be affected, depending on what's causing it," Handel said. "I think most people do care about wildlife and a lot of people care about chickadees and the species that stick around Alaska all year, that are as hardy as Alaskans themselves. If there's something happening to those species, it's certainly something that raises an alarm for all of us."

Who to contact

To report sightings of deformed beaks in Southeast Alaska, contact Colleen Handel at colleen_handel@usgs.gov.

• Christine Schmid can be contacted at christine.schmid@juneauempire.com.