Animals
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Wolf

Woman's death 'likely caused' by dog bites in Paphos, Cyprus

Annette Chrysostomou
Cyprus Mail
Tue, 27 Feb 2018 12:24 UTC
canine attack
© Angela Antunes / CC by 2.0
The death of Petrana Mihailova Milkova, found dead in a field last Thursday in Paphos, was "likely caused by dogs", medical examiner Nicholas Charalambous said on Tuesday.

He added that the results of new samples taken from the woman's body would help to determine the exact cause of Milkova's death, which has remained unclear since the time she was found injured in a field.

Asked, if the previously suspected cause of death from a machine was ruled out, Charalambous said that based on the new evidence from the scene and the new samples that were taken, "we are being led in the direction that the woman's death was caused by dog bites."

It is thought the woman could have been attacked by the dogs while walking in the Yeroskipou area of Paphos.
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Bug

Insect population decline reported across Australia

Mark Rigby
ABC (Australia)
Sat, 24 Feb 2018 19:25 UTC
Entomologists are concerned Australia's insect populations are in decline. (ABC News: Penny McLintock)
© Penny McLintockEntomologists are concerned Australia's insect populations are in decline.
A global crash in insect populations has found its way to Australia, with entomologists across the country reporting lower than average numbers of wild insects.

University of Sydney entomologist Dr Cameron Webb said researchers around the world widely acknowledge that insect populations are in decline, but are at a loss to determine the cause.

"On one hand it might be the widespread use of insecticides, on the other hand it might be urbanisation and the fact that we're eliminating some of the plants where it's really critical that these insects complete their development," Dr Webb said.

"Add in to the mix climate change and sea level rise and it's incredibly difficult to predict exactly what it is."
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Ice Cube

Adapt 2030 Ice Age Report: Record sized hail - Sun halos planet wide - Shrimp & fish cold kill (VIDEO)


Adapt 2030
Tue, 27 Feb 2018 11:51 UTC
Hail larger than softballs pummeled an Argentina city Thursday
Huge hail hit Cordoba, Argentina earlier this month
As galactic cosmic rays increase in Earth's atmosphere we are beginning to see record sized hail, intense sun halos across the globe which used to be a rare event. Now winter temperatures are responsible for fisheries collapses of white shrimp in the SE USA and lake fish stocks. This is now affecting terrestrial crops along with aquatic species, its global and we do have a problem that needs to be addressed.


Comment: For related articles see also:

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Binoculars

An extremely rare gyrfalcon from the tundra visits Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania

Arlene Koch
Lehigh Valley Live
Tue, 27 Feb 2018 15:02 UTC
A gyrfalcon. (File photo)
A gyrfalcon. (File photo)
It was raining and so warm the morning I wrote this column that I went out on the deck without a coat to refill a peanut feeder. We only put out peanuts in the mornings because they're costly, but at that time, blue jays put on a good show as they come in to grab them. I've seen a jay take three peanuts at the same time.

It was so unusually warm that mid-February day that snowdrops, small white flowers produced by bulbs, were blooming in the front yard. But, as often happens in the winter, the weather was going to turn on a dime. Dropping temperatures and snow were predicted for the next night.

As the day wore on I debated with myself about going for a second look at an extremely rare raptor that's been frequenting several places in the area. A dark-phase gyrfalcon, a tundra breeder and the largest and most powerful falcon in North America, has been drawing birders from miles around and surrounding states.

Comment: See also this report from 2 months ago: Rarely seen white morph gyrfalcon from the high Arctic spotted in New Brunswick, Canada

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Fish

As marina thaws, thousands of frozen shad appear in Burlington, Iowa

Julia Mericle
The Hawk Eye
Sun, 25 Feb 2018 19:32 UTC
Frozen Shad
Frozen Shad
The Spring thaw arrived at Bluff's Harbor Marina this week and brought with it thousands of dead shad.

During two months of ice and freezing temperatures, the fish in the marina slowly ran out of oxygen. Harbormaster Jon Billups said even using bubblers, which churn air and oxygen into the marina during the winter months to keep ice down, did not help this year.

"We've had winters where there weren't any fish killed because there wasn't enough ice to matter," said Billups. "But this time it was so long. We had over two months of solid ice down here. It's a shame, but it's nature."

As the ice thaws and becomes translucent, the silvery fish, not much bigger than minnows, are exposed, frozen right where they were swimming. In some places, ice fishers reported the ice about a foot thick.

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Fish

School's out: Thousands of dead fish wash up near Auckland, New Zealand

Matthew Cattin
Stuff
Thu, 22 Feb 2018 19:19 UTC
dead fish have washed into the Stanmore Bay estuary.
Dead fish have washed into the Stanmore Bay estuary.
Thousands of dead fish have startled residents at a north Auckland beach.

The washed up fish - identified by Auckland War Memorial Museum head of natural sciences Tom Trnski as anchovy Engraulis australis - lined the shores of the Stanmore Bay estuary on February 21, sparking fears of water contamination.

A video sent in by a resident shows just how many of the fish have washed up.

A similar incident occurred at Stanmore Bay and Martins Bay, Mahurangi, in August 2009.

Experts suggested the cause could have been rough weather conditions or predators chasing the school into the shallows.
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Attention

Three dead dolphins discovered in Long Beach, Mississippi

Lindsay Knowles and Taren Reed
wlox.com
Sat, 24 Feb 2018 14:56 UTC
One of the marine scientists with IMMS inspects a dead baby dolphin after it was found washed ashore in Long Beach Saturday morning.
© WLOXOne of the marine scientists with IMMS inspects a dead baby dolphin after it was found washed ashore in Long Beach Saturday morning.
Marine officials were out in Long Beach Saturday morning after discovering two dead baby dolphins on the beach there. A third baby dolphin was found dead on Ship Island on Friday.

Dr. Moby Solangi, the director of Institute of Marine Mammal Studies, said the two in Long Beach were found within a mile of the other on the beach.

Solangi and his team are now looking into how the infant dolphins died. According to Solangi, it's not uncommon to see dolphins come ashore during birthing season. However, Solangi said it's still really early in the birthing season.
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Binoculars

Environmental stress? Rare '1-in-a-million' Yellow Cardinal sighted in Alabama


RT
Sat, 24 Feb 2018 18:30 UTC
Rare '1-in-a-million' Yellow Cardinal sighted in Alabama
© Charlie Stephenson / Facebook
A rare, yellow-colored American Northern Cardinal was spotted in an Alabama backyard in January. The "one-in-a-million" cardinal has excited birdwatchers across the US.

Cardinals usually have red feathers. This bird, however, is a mustard-yellow color, likely due to a pigment mutation.

Charlie Stephenson first noticed the yellow bird in her garden in January. She told the Shelby County Reporter it has made almost daily visits to her backyard ever since.


Comment: See Also:

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Wolf

12-year-old girl ripped apart by stray dogs near Donetsk in Ukraine

Richard Hartley-Parkinson
Metro (UK)
Fri, 23 Feb 2018 11:31 UTC
canine attack
© Angela Antunes / CC by 2.0
A 12-year-old girl has died in Ukraine after being set upon by a pack of stray dogs as she walked home from school.

Liza Kanareikina's body was torn to pieces and discovered by her parents near Donetsk to the east of the country.

They found her body in woodland where she would walk daily when she failed to return home.

Neighbour Natalia Skiba said: 'The child was walking back home and did not make it. She was found here in the forest, already torn to pieces.'

A local report said: 'Pieces of meat were literally torn off her body, the snow around was red from blood.'
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Attention

Dead Bryde's whale found on coast of United Arab Emirates

Ahmed Shaaban
Khaleej Times
Sat, 24 Feb 2018 11:16 UTC
The smell of the deceased mammal spread around the vicinity.
The smell of the deceased mammal spread around the vicinity.
The people of Al Rams area, 12km to the north of the Ras Al Khaimah city, have found a 9m long dead whale on the Al Rams shore.

Fahd Abdullah Juma, an Emirati national from the Al Rams area, said the smell of the deceased mammal spread around the vicinity.

"This is mainly because of remaining dead for long hours," he said, urging the bodies concerned to remove it as soon as possible.

"The smell is so terrible that the people of Al Rams cannot go to the beach there," he said, urging the bodies concerned to scientifically dissect the dead whale and identify the actual reasons for its death.
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