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SPEAKER: Well, it's 5:24 now on All Things Considered from Minnesota Public Radio News. Pollutants from the big oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico two years ago are showing up in Minnesota birds that migrate to the Gulf. Researchers with the Minnesota DNR say they have found evidence of petroleum compounds and the chemical used to clean up the oil in pelicans nesting in Minnesota. Dan Gunderson joined researchers at a pelican colony on Marsh Lake, a wide spot on the Minnesota River near the town of Appleton.

DAN GUNDERSON: It's only a few minutes by boat to a handful of islands that are home to the largest colony of American white pelicans in North America. About 34,000 adult pelicans will raise some 17,000 chicks this year at Marsh Lake. As researchers Mark Clark and Jeff DiMatteo step from a boat onto the largest island, thousands of gulls that also nest here protest the intrusion.

The scientists step cautiously among the pelican, gull, and cormorant nests that cover the ground. DiMatteo is a graduate student who studies the success of pelican chicks that hatch here. Mark Clark is an ecologist at North Dakota State University, who studies pelican eggs. He's helping the DNR look for oil-related contaminants.

MARK CLARK: So the first question is, well, are the contaminants there? And the next step is what do they do.

DAN GUNDERSON: Clark has collected dozens of unhatched eggs here to be tested for petroleum compounds and the chemical dispersant used to break up oil slicks. The pelicans are big birds, a bit larger than a Canada goose. They grudgingly fly off their nests as the researchers approach, exposing eggs or recently hatched naked chicks. The parents watch carefully from a distance as Jeff DiMatteo finds the marked chicks he's tracking and measures and weighs them.

JEFF DIMATTEO: Wing cord 41.6.

DAN GUNDERSON: The scientists quickly gather their data and leave. The birds grunt and grumble as they settle back on the nests. If pelicans are bothered too much, they've been known to abandon colonies.

But this is a perfect place to look for oil spill effects. Most of these birds spend winter somewhere on the Gulf of Mexico, and young pelicans spend a full year on the Gulf before they start breeding. Ecologist Mark Clark says pollutants inside the eggs could be a big problem.

MARK CLARK: Even if they're present in small amounts, they may have a large impact on the development.

DAN GUNDERSON: Clark says there's been very little research done on how petroleum affects developing bird embryos. So they don't even know how the effects might show up in a newly-hatched bird. But he says tiny amounts of specialized hormones guide the chicks development in the egg. So there's a good chance adding pollutants to the eggs will increase the risk of damage to the embryos.

MARK CLARK: Certainly, any contaminant that makes its way into the bird could be bad, but could be especially bad if it gets into the egg, because that's where the developing embryo and the chick starts. And when things go wrong at that stage, there's usually no recovery from that.

DAN GUNDERSON: Researchers are still a long way from understanding the potential effect of the oil spill pollutants. They're just getting the first preliminary results of lab tests. Petroleum compounds showed up in 90% of the first batch of eggs tested. Nearly 80% of the eggs contain the chemical dispersant used in the Gulf.

CARROL HENDERSON: This high percentage really surprised me.

DAN GUNDERSON: DNR Non-Game Wildlife Program Supervisor Carrol Henderson cautions the results are still too preliminary to draw any conclusions, and there's no pre-spill testing for comparison. But he says the results raise a lot of questions.

CARROL HENDERSON: I think it gives us a real heads-up here that we may have created a very vital study here because I'm not aware of any other northern states that are looking at the impact of the Gulf oil spill on their migratory birds.

DAN GUNDERSON: A lab is also testing loon eggs for pollutants. And the DNR is collecting dead loons to check for any petroleum contaminants. Researchers will keep coming back to this pelican colony in Western Minnesota, monitoring the success of each year's hatch.

They know very little about how petroleum might affect the young birds. And it will likely take at least five years to find any answers. Right now, there's state money for three years of research. Dan Gunderson, Minnesota Public Radio News on Marsh Lake.

SPEAKER: If you are interested in visiting a pelican colony, check out Dan's post on our statewide blog at mprnews.org. You can also see some magnificent photos of the pelicans in Dan's story. Check it all out, mprnews.org.