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The Alaska Science Center began research on beak deformities in landbirds in Alaska in 1999 and has since identified nearly 1,500 deformed Black-capped Chickadees in south-central Alaska—the highest concentration of such abnormalities ever recorded in a wild bird population anywhere! More recently, rapidly increasing numbers of other species, including Downy Woodpeckers, Northwestern Crows, Steller’s Jays, and Black-billed Magpies have also been reported with bill deformities by biologists and local residents.
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