I was reading about the latest environmental disaster–an oil spill in San Francisco Bay–when I came across a tidbit of information I’ve always wondered about: How oil spills kill birds.

Everyone who hasn’t been living under a rock knows that oil spills are deadly to sea birds, but so far, I’ve never been able to find out the how of it. It’s easy to guess for fish and the like (probably death is from not being able to breathe oil). But birds are a bit more mysterious. Finally, here it is, from MSNBC.com:

The oil seeps into the birds’ skin, leaving them unable to maintain their body temperature, he said. Once covered in oil, the birds are forced to move ashore where they are at risk of starvation.

So it’s a double-whammy. If they manage to live through the temperature-control being wrecked, they starve.

Fortunately for these oiled birds, they’re in California, which means that there are animal rehab centers nearby, and plenty of people to staff them. Now if only those people can refrain from saying that oil is “evil” and focus on the fact that it only spilled because some yahoo didn’t know how to drive a tanker ship, it’ll be aces…