Frequently Asked Questions - Injured, Orphaned or Sick Birds
Birds are being discovered in various places of the United
States to have beaks that are much too long. The keratin layer
of the beak becomes overgrown, resulting in elongated and often
crossed beaks. The deformity shows up in adult birds, and most
often occurs in the upper beak but sometimes in the lower beak
or both. The cause of the deformity — called "avian keratin
disorder" — hasn't been determined, but is thought to be the
result of environmental pollutants in the birds’ environment.
The abnormality — sometimes accompanied by elongated claws,
abnormal skin or variations in feather color — often impacting a
bird's ability to feed and clean itself. In the past, large
clusters of beak deformities have been associated with
environmental pollutants such as organochlorines in the Great
Lakes region and selenium from agricultural runoff in
California. More recently, crows, chickadees, nuthatches and
magpies in Alaska have been afflicted along with nu