Kelley Boland has seen plenty of common murres during her years at Pacific Wildlife Care, but never anything like this.
“This is the most common-murre pulse into the clinic that we’ve ever seen,” Boland, the nonprofit’s development coordinator, told New Times. “We saw a big pulse of common murres that’s sort of similar to this back in 2015, which was another El Niño year. But this is far beyond what we saw back then.”
How to help
Residents who encounter a stranded seabird should keep pets away and contact Pacific Wildlife Care at (805) 543-9453.
Donation and volunteer information is available at pacificwildlifecare.org.
Since Sept. 1, more than 765 common murres have arrived at the wildlife rehabilitation clinic in Morro Bay, most of them young, starving seabirds that should be diving for fish in the open ocean.
Instead, they’re washing ashore along the Central Coast, severely underweight and in need of medical attention.
The unprecedented influx has stretched the small nonprofit’s resources during an already record-breaking year for wildlife admissions.
On Oct. 10, the organization admitted 68 murres, its highest single-day total on record. Between Oct. 9 and 11, the clinic admitted 165 common murres among 194 wildlife patients, marking some of its busiest single-day admissions ever.
The clinic has already treated more than 3,800 animals this year, surpassing the roughly 3,100 admitted throughout 2025, which was itself a record.
“We’ve just been getting a lot of animals,” Boland said. “The murres are just, like, a cherry on top.”
Common murres are black-and-white seabirds resembling small penguins that spend most of their lives offshore, diving as deep as 600 feet in pursuit of fish. Under normal circumstances, Pacific Wildlife Care might admit a handful throughout the year.
Boland suspects several environmental and seasonal factors are converging, creating particularly difficult conditions for young birds.
Ocean temperatures have remained unusually warm throughout the summer, potentially pushing the cold-water fish that murres depend on into deeper, cooler waters.
“If the prey that’s normally available to them is deeper and harder to reach, it takes more energy to get those fish,” she explained. “And if it’s taking more energy for each fish, then they just don’t have enough energy to sustain those deep dives.”
The timing is especially challenging because murres have recently finished breeding. After leaving their nesting colonies, young murres remain under the care of their fathers while learning to forage independently.
Meanwhile, adult murres undergo an annual molt that leaves them flightless for approximately six to eight weeks, increasing their energy demands.
“We don’t know exactly what’s happening, but that seems like all of the factors at play here,” Boland said.
In March, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife identified starvation as the primary cause of increased seabird deaths along the state’s coast, although officials are continuing to investigate other contributing factors.
At Pacific Wildlife Care, most murres arrive emaciated and dehydrated, unable to regulate their body temperatures or maintain the waterproof feathers necessary for survival at sea.
Under the supervision of the clinic’s full-time veterinarian, each bird receives an examination, fluids, medications, and an individualized treatment plan.
Many initially must be tube-fed a nutritional mixture that Boland affectionately calls a “fish slurry” before graduating to whole fish, typically smelt.
But rehabilitating an aquatic bird presents an unusual challenge.
Murres are built to spend their lives on the water. Extended periods on land can cause pressure sores on their delicate feet, yet weakened birds cannot remain in water because their feathers have lost their waterproofing.
“If you’re cold and wet, you’re not going to survive,” Boland said.
Staff repeatedly move patients between temperature-controlled pools and heated drying pens, encouraging them to preen and restore their feathers’ waterproof structure.
As their strength returns, the birds transition to larger outdoor pools before being released offshore with help from the Morro Bay Harbor Patrol.
The rehabilitation process typically takes two to three weeks.
“This kind of rehabilitation of aquatic birds takes a lot of energy on our part,” Boland said. “It’s a lot of monitoring the birds, and they eat so much.”
Keeping hundreds of hungry seabirds fed and cared for has become increasingly expensive.
Approximately 90 percent of Pacific Wildlife care’s funding comes from individual donors and community partners, Boland said.
The nonprofit has requested donations of medical supplies, including syringes for tube-feeding and newborn-baby socks to cushion the birds’ feet while they are on land.
Although the community has responded enthusiastically, Boland said the clinic’s biggest expenses remain staffing and fish. The nonprofit is also seeking volunteers to help prepare food, clean enclosures, answer its wildlife hotline, and transport injured animals.
“Everybody’s spread a little bit thin,” Boland said.
The influx comes as Pacific Wildlife Care approaches completion of its new rehabilitation facility off Buckley Road in San Luis Obispo. The 10-acre Kim and Derrel Ridenour Wildlife Rehabilitation Center will feature expanded treatment facilities, outdoor enclosures, and aquatic pools designed to house more animals and accommodate seasonal influxes.
After more than six years of planning, construction is entering its final weeks. Boland said the organization hopes to host a community open house in early December before moving animals into the new building.
Equipment could begin moving in November, although the full transition depends on final permits. Boland expects the facility to be operational by early 2027.
“We’re so excited for it,” she said. “It’s been a long time coming.”
Until then, Pacific Wildlife Care will continue treating injured and sick wildlife at its Morro Bay clinic, where staff and volunteers work year-round.
“Wildlife doesn’t take time off,” Boland said. “We operate every day of the year.”
Reach Staff Writer Chloë Hodge at chodge@newtimesslo.com.
This article appears in Oct 15-22, 2026.
