Dead sea birds Florida.

Dead sea birds no cause for worry, North Florida

Beachgoers may notice a high number of dead sea birds washing ashore on the First Coast lately.

Gary Anderson, a member of the Jacksonville Waterways Commission, just happened to be on the beach for a stroll on Friday and found about 10 dead sea birds in the area of First Street in Atlantic Beach. Concerned, Anderson began to investigate and found that there were well over a dozen dead sea birds, including gannets and pelicans, that were dead and washed ashore between Atlantic Beach and Guana Preserve in north St. Johns County.

Anderson was worried that there might be some unnatural factor at work.

But officials both with the Bird Emergency And Kare Sanctuary on Big Talbot Island and the Florida Fish and Fresh and Wildlife Conservation Commission advise beachgoers not to worry. The increase in dead sea birds is simply a result of the migration of those birds right now. Many of the birds simply become exhausted and die over open water and wash ashore.