USA: Oil-covered dead bird found on Louisiana beach near vast Gulf of Mexico oil spill

Record ID: 343475

  • Title: USA: Oil-covered dead bird found on Louisiana beach near vast Gulf of Mexico oil spill
  • Date: 22nd May 2010
  • Summary: VARIOUS OF BAREFOOT CHILDREN ON BEACH LOOKING AT DEAD BIRD
  • Embargoed: 6th June 2010 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Usa
  • Country: USA
  • Topics: Environment / Natural World
  • Reuters ID: LVA9BQ90R7DA6TR7UEMI5EZ5MUIO
  • Story Text: A dead bird covered in oil is discovered on a contaminated beach in Louisiana as scientists map a vast area of water encompassed by the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
    A dead bird coated in a layer of thick brown oil was found on Friday (May 21) on a contaminated Louisiana beach northwest of the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
    Oil stained the bird's feathers and was evident inside its beak. Its eyes covered with sand and its neck curled over its body, the bird was discovered on Grand Isle beach, a barrier island where gobs of oil now dot sand along its entire length.
    Wildlife officials documented the death and removed the bird from the beach.
    The bird is a member of the Northern Gannet species, which is known for its deep diving abilities.
    Beachgoers including Michelle Bohan and her five-year old son stopped to look at the bird, which appeared to have washed onto shore.
    Bohan has been coming to Grand Isle beach for family vacations since she was five years old, when her great-grandfather had a cabin there. Walking on the beach with her five-year old son, she said it's hard to witness the disaster making landfall.
    "I think it's heartbreaking. That's the best word I can think of is heartbreaking. And devastating, but heartbreaking first and foremost," Bohan said.
    An oil spill has been flowing in the Gulf of Mexico since April 20, when an explosion on the BP Deepwater Horizon rig sank the drilling platform and killed 11 workers, with thousands of barrels of oil a day estimated to be pouring into the water.
    While spending hundreds of millions of dollars trying to stop the leak and clean up its environmental effects, BP has been under increasing government and media scrutiny over its safety procedures in the days before the explosion.
    Near a rock jetty close to Grand Isle's shore, chunks of oil formed a coagulation approximately 25-feet long that bobbed underwater and was visible above the water surface when waves passed.
    Workers shoveled and raked the sand, depositing clumps of oil from into white trash bags.
    Birds and a hermit crab walked over oil as waves broke on the shore.
    At noon on Friday (May 21), the mayor of Grand Isle officially closed the beach.
    Patrols by the Louisiana State Wildlife and Fisheries Research Lab were ongoing on the beach and in the water, where biologists documented the amount of oil found and logged its coordinates with a GPS locator.
    Approximately six miles southeast of Grand Isle, the scientists found a rust-colored band of oil stretching in a winding line for miles into the distance.
    The oil varied in color and consistency, from deep red to yellow and from chunky to powdery.
    The band of oil encircled an area of water known as an oil sheen, where waves appeared to be moving in slow motion and chunks of bright orange oil floated. Tiny fish swam through the contaminated water.
    As they surveyed the water from a high-powered speed boat, the scientists spotted and reported a shrimp boat that appeared to be trolling despite a ban on all fishing in that area.
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