Birds Are Dying. Clues Point to El Niño.

Dead seabirds are piling up along Ecuador’s coast, with monitoring teams finding a sharp surge this year that researchers link to changing ocean conditions tied to El Niño. Giovanny Suárez Espín, who surveys beaches near his home in southern Ecuador for American Bird Conservancy, reported that surveys have shifted from seeing “a handful” to finding carcasses every few steps. In June, teams tallied 638 dead birds across three provinces—about seven times the total from the previous 18 months. July added 968 more. Species affected include sooty shearwaters, Peruvian and blue-footed boobies, cormorants, petrels, and the critically endangered waved albatross.