A thick oil slick which has landed on the shores of northwest Estonia could kill as many as 5,000 birds, including swans and a rare breed of duck, environmentalists in the Baltic state said on Wednesday (01/02). The oil spill of about 20 tonnes, whose source is being investigated, was first reported on the Estonian coast on Saturday (04/02), but was initially believed to have a limited impact.

However further reports from bird watchers have confirmed that as many as 5,000 birds are expected to perish. "The oil has coated the feathers of many birds including swans and the rare long-tailed duck, which summers in Sweden and Norway and winters in Estonian waters," said Estonian Fund For Nature spokeswoman Kristel Toom.

"The impact on the long-tailed duck will be felt in the region," said Jari Luukkonen, Conservation Co-ordinator for the World Wildlife Fund, Finland. Conservationists especially fear for the population of the long-tailed duck, known as Clangula hyemalis.

The long-tailed duck breeds in much of Iceland, Norway and the mountainous parts of Sweden. Experts say wintering birds can be seen, mostly at sea, from several sites in Scotland, Holland and the Baltic countries. BirdGuides (www.birdguides.com) has estimated that about 8,000 to 18,000 pairs breed in Europe.

A farmer who lives on an island off the coast of northwest Estonia told Reuters on Wednesday that there was a scant supply of resources on her island to deal with the problem. "On Osmusaare island ... we have about 1,000 birds that are coated in oil," said Katrin Koppel, who said she was trying to rescue the birds.

She added that many of the birds would die before help arrives to treat them. Environmentalists said birds coated in oil have also been seen off the southwest coast of Finland. They add that weather conditions are not helping matters. The Estonian weather forecasting service predicts that temperatures will fall to -15 to -20 degrees Celsius (5 to -4 degrees Fahrenheit) by the weekend.
(Planet Ark, 02/02/06)