Oregon Public Broadcasting

Wildlife rescue centers in Western Oregon and Washington are being overwhelmed with dying seabirds. 

The U.S. Coast Guard Monday used a military cargo plane to airlift more than 300 birds to a rehab center in California.  Correspondent Tom Banse has more from Astoria.

The problem is an unusual algal bloom. This particular algae cleans the water-proofing off bird feathers, meaning affected seabirds can no longer stay warm and dry. 

Hundreds of dead and dying seabirds started washing up on ocean beaches last week.

Rebecca Dmytryk of the International Bird Rescue Research Center has never seen a disaster quite like it.

Rebecca Dmytryk: "It is extremely like an oil spill without the oil, except that we don't have any responsible party other than it is nature."

Dmytryk was part of small team of bird rehabilitators flow up from California by the Coast Guard. 

They flew home with a plane load of over 300 loons, grebes, and murres.  The diving birds were collected between Long Beach, Washington and Cannon Beach, Oregon. 

Other weakened birds are being transported and nursed back to health as far away as Seattle.