Wednesday, Jan. 05, 2011
West Coast Pelicans
They crashed into cars and boats, huddled in yards and were struck by vehicles. Hundreds of pelicans from Oregon to Mexico were found either acting funny or dead in 2009, and no one was really sure why. Rescuers speculated that the odd behavior was possibly an illness caused by a virus or contaminants washed into the ocean after forest fires in Southern California. Another theory was that unseasonable weather patterns threw off the birds' eating habits, causing them to act disoriented.