The algae has killed thousands of fish and moved into area bays, killing more fish. The algae has decreased during the past week, possibly because of increased water circulation brought by unusually high tides, said Ken Rice, a biologist with the Parks and Wildlife Department. But it is not entirely gone, he said. Rice said he has seen no bird deaths proven to be a result of the red tide outbreak in Texas. However, Stehn said birds have died in Florida from eating marine creatures that consumed the red tide.
Red tide can accumulate in mussels - a part of the whooping crane diet.
Eating a mussel containing red tide might give a crane a stomachache, but it's not likely to kill the bird, Schwindt said. Still falling ill could make a whooping crane lethargic and inattentive, Stehn said. When they first arrive, whooping cranes tend to eat a lot of vegetation on land, such as acorns and wolfberries, Schwindt said. The birds usually don't start eating mussels much until January or February, he said. By then, the red tide in the mussels may have dissipated, he said.