Photos: Birds invade Peru beach emptied by COVID-19 outbreak

This February 16, 2020 file photo shows the the Agua Dulce public beach packed with thousands of beachgoers in Lima, Peru. Agua Dulce beach is usually a sea of humanity, packed with as many as 40,000 people a day at the height of Peru's Southern Hemisphere summer, which runs from December to March.

The new coronavirus pandemic has changed all that. Peru's President Martmn Vizcarra declared a state of emergency as deaths began to mount and ordered people to stay home, largely emptying the beach of people.

A row of public showers (above) typically overflowing with beachgoers, at Agua Dulce beach. A kilometer-long strip of grayish-brown sand, 20 kilometers south of central Lima is normally a haven for the working classes, a place where visitors from the Andean highlands first dip a toe in the sea.

Densely thronged pedestrian bridges are all but empty.

But in recent days, an army of seabirds has claimed the sandy territory abandoned by people.

Instead of chaotic human footprints, the beach is tattooed with the tracks of gulls and pelicans.

Police officers who recently monitored the beach for unlicensed vendors catering to the crowds now walk along the empty beach to warn off would-be swimmers. Those caught out are usually let go with a warning.

Thousands of birds line the shore at Agua Dulce beach.

A lone sandal on the shore of Agua Dulce beach that is typically packed to the gills this time of year, in Lima.

A carcass surrounded by traces of bird tracks on the shore of Agua Dulce beach in Lima.