What's wrong with this bird?

This was taken over summer and I forgot about it till I was looking through some archives. I noticed this bird's face was swollen and mishapen compared to the others. It seemed to be feeding and functioning normally. Has anyone seen anything like this? Thanks.


- Luke

Okay, admit it Luke you used the bulge tool in the liquify option on the one bird! Usually those tools are saved to make people look thinner in the right spots. Seriously, have no idea why he is so bloated. Stung by a jelly fish?

Mumps? It does look really sick!

Luke,

I have seen a lot of sick looking birds in my time photographing them, in fact I saw two yesterday, but I have never seen one so swollen like your bird is under the bill and I have no idea other than a possible tumor what might be causing this disfiguration.

Has there been an algae bloom in your area? The toxins produced by some blue-green algae can cause cancer-like growths.

Shorebirds are seriously harmed by exposure to the toxins that accumulate in river muds, too.

There hadn't been any recent algal blooms - especially in Mecox Bay where this was photographed (obviously the birds can move around quite a bit). We do have red tide and brown tide here, but the red tide comes later in the season and I didn't see this on any other shorebird. What I found particularly odd was that the size of the bird is noticeably larger than the others, and (while this photo doesn't show it) the growth was symetrical on either side of the beak.

- Luke

Is that a Sanderling?

Avian pox maybe?
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10479096