As Oregon’s most prevalent seabird, common murres can often be spotted floating offshore or nesting on rocky cliffs. Typically, the birds boast a striking white belly, but on May 19, when one arrived at the Wildlife Center of the North Coast in Olney, a patch of its underside was nearly black, coated with a viscous, tar-like goop.

Researchers still aren’t sure exactly what that goop is, or where it came from.

The common murre is among the first of dozens of contaminated birds that have shown up in northern Oregon and southern Washington state since mid-May amid reports of tar patties on beaches up and down the coast.

The mystery substance prompted a coordinated response from state and federal agencies, including the U.S. Coast Guard, the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality, the Washington Department of Ecology, the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department, the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife and the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife. On Friday, the unified command announced it would wrap up its operation after successfully cleaning up oiled beaches.

The investigation into the source of the contamination is ongoing, but the substance appears to be a petroleum-based product.

No small feat

As the official response draws to a close, local wildlife centers continue to work behind the scenes to rehabilitate birds soiled by the contamination. For the Wildlife Center of the North Coast and other small facilities, that’s been no small feat.

It’s not every day that the North Coast sees a sudden slew of tar balls. Ginger Nealon, the rehabilitation coordinator at the wildlife center, said the nonprofit has received five oiled common murres from Manzanita, Cannon Beach and Lincoln City. One has survived.

“It took a lot of phone calls and emails to figure out how exactly our approach was going to look to wash this bird,” Nealon said.

Contamination affects birds like common murres in a couple of key ways. If a bird tries to preen off the substance, it can end up ingesting it. The contamination can also affect the birds’ waterproofing.

“If they don’t have the waterproofing, they can’t be a seabird,” Nealon said. “So it affects everything that they’re able to do, because if they can’t stay waterproof, they’ll quickly get hypothermic and start not being able to actually stay afloat in the water, so that’s why they come to land. … If they can’t swim and if they can’t forage, then they’re not eating, and that all can take them out pretty quickly.”

Before staff and volunteers can even think about washing a contaminated bird, Nealon said they have to assess whether it can withstand the washing process. That starts with suiting up in personal protective equipment to check the bird’s weight, temperature and blood values and determine whether it’s emaciated. An emaciated bird — one that’s undernourished and anemic — will often droop its head and have little energy, while a healthier bird might be more alert.

Often, contaminated birds need to be given fluids and receive food through a feeding tube before they regain enough strength to handle a wash. As the team prepares, they’ll take feather samples to determine what the contamination is and how to get it off.

For the common murre, the key was canola oil.

“When my tech took a sample of the feathers and just tried to get stuff off with Dawn (dish soap), it didn’t really come off right away,” Nealon said. “Instead she tried canola oil next, left it on for a little while, it came right off.”

First, the team heated the oil, massaged it into the common murre’s feathers and let it sit for about 30 minutes. Then, they began the washing process, sending the bird through five bins of warm soapy water — each one with a lower concentration of dish soap than the last. Once all the goopy substance had been rinsed, it was time to dry off with a blast of warm air in the pet dryer.

Now, the common murre’s belly — once stained with a grimy dark patch — has been restored to its original pristine white. Just a few days after its bath, it perked its head up inquisitively from inside its enclosure as a volunteer offered it fresh fish.

All the signs point to a positive prognosis, but Nealon said the process isn’t over, yet. They’re now having the bird swim daily to assess how well it’s regaining its waterproofing. The idea is to gradually help the bird readjust to cooler and cooler water in a sink until it’s ready to move to an outdoor filter pool.

A hurdle

While the bird might be considered a success story, Nealon said getting it back on its feet hasn’t been a seamless process. As a small wildlife center that doesn’t typically deal with heavy contamination, they’ve spent the last few weeks coordinating with the Oiled Wildlife Care Network and Focus Wildlife to fill gaps in knowledge and determine a path forward.

Resources have also posed a hurdle. The Wildlife Center of the North Coast receives no state funding, and although a handful of dedicated volunteers help support operations, the nonprofit only has three paid staff. With other patients also needing care — including 65 ducklings — responding to the oiled birds has stretched managing capacity.

Other small wildlife centers have felt have felt that stretch, too. Peninsula Wild Care, a 100% volunteer-run organization in Ocean Park, Washington, for example, has taken in 16 oiled birds since mid-May.

But with those challenges have come a robust display of public support. A couple of weeks ago, Nealon said the Wildlife Center of the North Coast received a note from the post office. They had 30 packages waiting for them, all filled with donated supplies — from medical equipment to gloves and kennel cleaner.

As state and federal agencies continue to piece together the puzzle and await additional lab results, it’s unclear how many additional oiled birds might show up along the coast. Nealon said the Wildlife Center of the North Coast can care for up to 10.

As the team monitors the surviving common murre and prepares to release it back into the wild in the next couple of weeks, members will be keeping an eye on reports to ensure they can bring it as close as possible to where they found it without putting the bird at risk of further contamination.

Nealon said the community’s support plays a crucial role in their continued response.

“We’re a nonprofit,” Nealon said. “And we need all the help we can get.”