Mysterious beak deformities may be caused by virus

Normally, beak deformities occur in less than 1 percent of wild birds. But in Alaska, researchers have found so-called “twisted beaks” in over 6 percent of black-capped chickadees and 17 percent of northwestern crows.
(Photo courtesy of Colleen Handel)It’s been almost 20 years since large numbers of birds with unusually long beaks first appeared in Alaska.
The birds, whose beaks grow at twice the normal rate, often die from starvation because they can’t feed themselves. R