OTTAWA  Canadian federal and provincial government officials were conducting an investigation Wednesday into Syncrude Canada, a large oil-sands project operator, after hundreds of migrating ducks that landed in a company tailings pond died.

Water used to separate and process the oil-bearing tar in oil-sands deposits ends up in large ponds and becomes a toxic sludge. Alberta officials said Tuesday that Syncrude had failed to operate noisemakers to frighten away birds. The company also appears not to have notified the province’s government about the birds’ arrival on Monday.

An anonymous tip eventually alerted officials that about 500 birds were in the pond.

“This is a tragedy and this is unacceptable,” Alberta’s environment minister, Rob Renner, said, “and we’re going to do everything within our power to find out why it occurred” and “to prevent it from occurring again.”

Cheryl Robb, a spokeswoman for Alberta Environment, said only five ducks had survived and been recovered. The episode comes as environmental groups in Canada and the United States are pushing for a slowdown or even a halt to further oil-sands development in northern Alberta.