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The first, which peaked in March 2022, primarily affected raptors, while the second, which began in June, hit gulls and sea ducks known as eiders.

The road would traverse a narrow isthmus densely dotted with shallow fresh water ponds that separates lagoons holding the world’s largest eel grass beds vital to emperor geese, brant and eiders.

The state is swimming with sea ducks, including six-pound eiders that eat their weight in mussels every day.

Izembek Lagoon holds one of the world’s largest beds of eelgrass, a rich food source for Pacific brant geese, endangered Steller’s eider sea ducks and other migratory birds.

The culprit was avian cholera, a disease not previously detected in these high latitudes, and one that elsewhere rarely fells seabirds such as thick-billed murres, auklets, common eiders, northern fulmars and gulls.