ATLANTIC BEACH, Fla. -- Gary Anderson has made a career out of studying the shoreline. The coastal geologist turned Jacksonville Waterways commissioner has seen many changes along Florida's northeast coast, but he's never seen so many beached birds.
"There were dead birds all over the place and what really gave me a clue was there were feathers there were thousands of thousands of feathers and that's unusual," said Anderson.
The commissioner found a total of 12 pelicans and gannets on Friday, and a friend found more than 40 just between Hannah Park and Ponte Vedra Beach.
Action news took those concerns to Florida Fish and Wildlife, who said the dead birds are nothing out of the ordinary.
"This occurs every year during migration time where some of these immature birds can't handle the stress of the long migration and some of them die on the way down basically," said Kevin Baxter, spokesperson for Fish and Wildlife.
But that wasn't enough for beach buff, Anderson.
"I'm a little skeptical because I spend a lot of time on this beach," said Anderson.
He says something stinks.
"One of the other witnesses smelled petroleum," said he said. "And on Friday the foam was brown, today it's white."
Fish and Wildlife also told Action News they studied two carcasses from our coast and they are sticking to their migration theory.
"There were no signs of any kind of contamination," said Baxter. "They conducted a necropsy which is a death examination of the birds and didn't find any evidence of that."
Fish and Wildlife promises, as they get more calls, they will continue to investigate. To report a dead or injured bird, visit myfwc.com/bird.
