The count so far: 21 birds dead and five rescued from the scene of a crude-oil spill in Huntington Beach, while investigators continue trying to determine the source of the oil.

Friday’s spill of nearly 700 gallons in a flood-control channel drew Huntington Beach officials, the Coast Guard , the state Department of Fish and Game and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, which is now in charge of the operation. Booms have been erected to corral the oil while the agencies continue to remove it.

They’re recovered three to four barrels so far — 126 to 168 gallons — said EPA on-scene coordinator Robert Wise. The total spill was estimated at 16 barrels, or 672 gallons.

“We’re still trying to figure out where it came from,” Wise said.

Six oiled birds were taken for treatment to the Wetlands and Wildlife Care Center in Huntington Beach, and one of them died while being treated, said Debbie McGuire, wildlife director at the center.

Once stabilized, the surviving birds were sent to another bird rescue center in Los Angeles to have the oil removed from their feathers.

Twenty other bird carcasses have been collected at the scene, along with a dead raccoon, McGuire said. The oiled birds include buffleheads, lesser scaups, American coots, and a pied-billed grebe.

Meanwhile, professional bird hazers erected strings of streamers across the flood-control channel to frighten other birds away, while rescuers continue trying to find oiled birds.

“When anyone sees one, we’re screaming, yelling, clapping — doing everything we can to keep these birds from coming in,” McGuire said.

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