Researchers link virus to Alaska birds with deformed beaks

Black-capped chickadeeGraniteStateBirds/CreativeCommons
Researchers in California and Alaska are hoping they’ve found what’s causing beaks of some bird species to grow twice as fast a normal.
The disease is called avian keratin disorder. Affected birds grow beaks that are freakishly long and that sometimes curve up or down.
Birds with the disease find it difficult to feed and preen. It has affected 6.5 percent of southcentral Alaska’s black-capped chickadees and 17 percent of