Oily Birds
By Dave Grant

After cleaning, a swan preens its feathers.

In late December, 1976, the oil tanker Olympic Games ran aground in lower Delaware Bay and spilled 130,000 gallons of crude oil at a time when the bay was heavily populated with wintering waterfowl. On New Year's Eve, I went down to the bay to gather information on the waterfowl rescue effort there.

After several stops to survey the damage along what seems to be an endless stretch of filled marshland between Penns Grove and Salem on the New Jersey side, I met with Keith Darby of the U.S. Coast Guard Atlantic Strike Team. Darby and a special task force stationed at Elizabeth City, N.C., are assigned to respond to oil spill disasters and to supervise the rehabilitation of oiled wildlife.

A bird cleaning station was set up in warehouse space donated by the Cleveland Trucking Company. Inside was a scene that fashions nightmares for both naturalists and oil company public relations staff: dozens of volunteers scrambling to save scores of birds' lives.

About l75-birds were already undergoing treatment on the second day of operations. Field recoveries in a disaster like this probably account for less than half the number if affected birds (It is hard to get to the shoreline here to find them; and birds tend to flee their captors/saviors; another half, at least, sink offshore and drown).

The vulnerable diving ducks, primarily ruddies, some scaup, and one goldeneye comprised most of the total. Canada geese were next, outnumbering the other surface feeders - mallards, black ducks, and a single whistling swan. These proportions are probably representative of the bird population of the Bay area at that season since it is a major wintering area for waterbirds.

Treatment followed the recommended procedures of previous recovery efforts:

1. Three washes in detergent followed by four rinses in warm water.
2. Drying - towelling, heat lamps, blowers.
3. Isolation in enclosed "heat tents" with heat and UV lamps.
4. Treatment for the stresses of cold, toxicity of the pollutant, starvation, dehydration, electrolyte imbalance and capture, involve injections of dextrose, steroids to calm the animals, and milk of magnesia to purge their systems of oil, and - two hours later - catheter (forced) feeding.

Steps 1 and 2 are repeated as necessary. After several days the birds are taken in by groups (SPCA, Ducks Unlimited, game farms) for recuperation and eventual release.

Ruddy ducks, scaup and a swan are dried under heat lamps in a warming tent.

Recovery rates vary between 0-100% depending on the species (ruddies are low, scaup high, for example), season (winter is worst), and the effectiveness of the treatment. Less that 50% is a realistic recovery target.
Many conservation groups, businesses, government agencies, University of Pennsylvania veterinary students, and private citizens participated, and without their efforts the operation would have been impossible.

But problems are inevitable when a situation such as this arises. Too many untrained or poorly supervised or coordinated volunteers only waste time and efforts which, in turn, increase the stress on the birds. Supplies, knowledgeable personnel and volunteers must be assembled
immediately and organized well if the chances of success are to remain high.

It is obvious that more planning is needed to prepare for these emergencies. The Littoral Society is interested in collecting information on: procedures, skilled personnel, organizations, supplies, and of course, volunteers. Information is available on some of this but better local coordinating efforts would be helpful to insure immediate responses to these emergencies.

It is not a question of if an oil spill will occur in a given area; the question is: when. At a bare minimum, each state should have in place a skeleton emergency procedure that includes one person in charge, locations where waterfowl should be brought, and a set of instructions for gathering the people and materials necessary to immediately begin the rescue operation.

NOTE: Grant is a graduate student at Long Island University. He recently prepared a Society report on the use of bridges for fishing.
Vol. 10, No. 2: March 1977

For those interested in reading in more detail about the problems of treating oiled birds, the following references will be helpful:

"Aid to Oiled Waterfowl" by Keith G. Hay, Atlantic Naturalist 30/4, Winter 1975;

"The Status of Oiled Wildlife: Research and Planning," by Keith G. Hay,
"Rehabilitating Oiled Aquatic Birds" by David C. Smith, (Both in Conference on Prevention and Control of Oil Pollution. March 25-27, 1975)

"The heat production of oiled mallards and scaup" by E.H. McEwan and A.F.C. Koelink, in Canadian Journal of Zoology.51:27- 31, 1973.