Bitter cold this winter has led to widespread ice that has killed ducks and other waterfowl.
As large portions of the Great Lakes and bodies of water like Presque Isle Bay froze over for long periods, the birds were unable to fish and drink water, and carcasses started appearing by the hundreds in some spots.
"The major cause is starvation because most of the lakes have frozen over," Janet Price, a board member and past president of the Presque Isle Audubon Society, said.
Price and other local birders said it's typical for some ducks to die each winter when temperatures drop and water freezes. But the winter of 2013-14 was the worst in years for waterfowl like the red-breasted merganser, a diving duck that feeds on fish. Average monthly temperatures were below normal in many places, including Erie, where two record lows were set in January. As of Wednesday, more than 80 percent of the Great Lakes were frozen, according to the Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory.
"We've had a harsh winter," Jerry McWilliams, another Presque Isle Audubon member, said.
He's used to seeing eight, maybe 10 dead ducks along an open patch of water. This winter, he's seen as many as 60 in the vicinity of the channel between Presque Isle Bay and Lake Erie.
Price went to see them once and couldn't go back. She said it was awful to watch the weak ducks struggling before they died.
"It is sad," she said.
She and McWilliams said mergansers, scaups and similar ducks need large areas of open water in which to feed. But the ice has left the ducks unable to get to the fish.
Price said she hasn't seen so many dead ducks in 15 or 20 years. The maximum 2014 Great Lakes total ice cover of 92.2 percent was recorded March 6, according to the research laboratory. That's second only to the 94.7 percent from 1979. In comparison, the ice cover reached only 38.4 percent in 2013 and 12.9 percent in 2012, according to information on GLERL's website.
A chart there shows the ice cover on Lake Erie rose above 95 percent earlier this year but had dipped below 90 as of Wednesday.
"There's no open water for (the ducks) to dive and find food," Price said.
So large numbers of birds have concentrated in the small open pools of water, such as the channel, McWilliams said. Stronger birds manage to get the available food while weaker ones die, he said.
Skye's Spirit Wildlife Rehabilitation Center in Venango County is one place where the ducks can get help.
The facility cares for and releases injured, sick and orphaned wild animals and birds.
Executive Director Maryjane Angelo said the facility had checked in 72 ducks from the Erie area.
"Most are diving ducks that require fish to eat," she said.
But with frozen lakes, they haven't had places to do that.
"Almost every single one that came in ... they were basically just starving to death," Angelo said.
She said she's fed them "lots and lots of fish," including live and frozen minnows.
A single duck can eat 100 minnows a day, Angelo said.
She said she's been able to release about 80 percent of the ducks so far.
Back in Erie County, the ducks that have died around Lake Erie and Presque Isle Bay aren't pretty to look at and likely will smell, Price said. But they'll eventually disappear into the environment and aren't expected to cause any problems.
"It's not like they're dying from some sort of disease that's passed on," she said.
Price and McWilliams said if there's one positive arising from the deaths, it's that four-legged animals and raptors like bald eagles and peregrine falcons can feast on the ducks.
DANA MASSING can be reached at 870-1729 or by e-mail. Follow her on Twitter at twitter.com/ETNmassing.