+ Last week we were down road tripping along the Oregon Coast. We didn’t see any dead fish on the beaches, but one night we came upon a bird that looked near dead. or something. It hardly moved as we walked up to it. Strange for a wild animal. It looked a lot like a penguin-a Common Murre most likely-laying defenslessly in the open on a huuuuuuge sandy beach. I gently inspected it for injury or oil contaminants, and found no sign of either. It seemed stunned, so I ventured it may have bonked it’s head. Or, I unrealistically hoped, it may have been disoriented from the light of our gas lantern.-a cliff dweller should not be laying in the middle of a beach. Feeling useless, we hoped for the best and left it alone.

Scientists deduce that global warming is triggering a ‘dead zone’ along the coast of Oregon.

GRANTS PASS, Ore. –Bottom fish and crabs washing up dead on Oregon beaches are being killed by a recurring “dead zone” of low-oxygen water that appears to be triggered by global warming, scientists say.

The area is larger and more deadly than in past years, and there are signs it is spreading north to Washington’s Olympic Peninsula.