Science and nature combine to create a spectacular sight as trees are covered in cobwebs.
On the banks of a creek near Jerusalem, part of a forest is enveloped in what looks like giant netting.
Long-jawed spiders spin huge cobwebs, shrouding trees that glisten in the sunshine.
The unusual sight in the Soreq creek is thanks to a combination of factors. Treated sewage full of nutrients promote the proliferation of mosquitoes that serve as a source of food for spiders, which then reproduce in multitudes.
However in time, colder temperatures are expected to bring a drop in the mosquito population that sustains the web-weavers.
Snowy Owls are being reported from Wisconsin in what has been called unusual numbers for November. One was seen near Bayfield in October. Most of the birds were seen along the Lake Michigan shoreline in eastern Wisconsin.
There have been 15 sightings.
Two sightings in Minnesota and a handful from the upper peninsula of Michigan are on the list. You can an eBird map of sightings at this link: bit.ly/2AmEq09.
One of the Minnesota sightings was in the metro area, the other north of Duluth along the lakeshore.
The report came from Ryan Brady, bird monitoring coordinator for the Wisconsin Bird Conservation Initiative.
Newly published research says two of Canada's most commonly used pesticides cause migrating songbirds to lose weight and their sense of direction.
"This is very good evidence that even a little dose — incidental, you might call it — in their feeding could be enough to have serious impacts," said University of Saskatchewan biologist Christy Morrissey, whose paper was published Thursday in the journal Scientific Reports.
Morrissey studied the effect of two widely used pesticide types — neonicotinoids and organophosphates. Both are used on more than 100 different crops, including wheat and canola, and are found in dozens of commercial products.
The so-called neonics are often applied to seeds before they're planted in the ground. Organophosphates are applied in tiny granules.
Both are known to be lethal to birds in large doses, but Morrissey wanted to study the impact of smaller amounts.
She and her colleagues took three groups of white-crowned sparrows, a common migratory songbird found throughout North America, and exposed them to a small dose, a somewhat larger dose, or no dose at all.
It is not a short hike to the Corn Crake. But when a bird is so rare it isn't even listed in some North American field guides, you go. You go 50 miles east of New York City and 15 more south. You speed across South Oyster Bay, then the full length of a barrier island, to reach a beach town so boarded-up even the public bathrooms are closed. You scramble across a two-lane highway to a brushy median, high-stepping the thorns, hoping you haven't missed it.
You fly in from Michigan, from North Carolina, from Minnesota. You ditch work and rent a car, rumble in from Manhattan against the crosstown traffic. You drive three hours to what feels like the edge of the world, November's first deep chill sweeping in off the sea, and say, "I would have driven six to see it."
"It only took me 58 years to see this bird," said Paul Desjardins, who came from Connecticut. "I never thought I'd see it."
Not since 1963 has a Corn Crake been documented in New York State, when one was shot in a remote rye field. Before that, the last record came from Grover Cleveland's first presidency, in 1888. That's two Corn Crakes in the past 129 years—until Ken and Sue Fuestal spotted one foraging on the side of a shoulder-less highway on Long Island, just east of New York City, on November 7.
Screams for help pierced the air, and a UPS driver, just going about his business delivering packages, leapt into action.
The unnamed deliveryman was tooling along his route near Clackamas on Monday around 7:45 p.m. when he heard what sounded like a person in serious distress.
He called his wife, who in turn called the cops. The UPS worker stood by while he waited for them to arrive. When deputy Hayden Sanders from the Clackamas County Sheriff's Office showed up, the scene was tense.
Cautiously, the deputy approached the residence, likely worried that someone inside could be in serious trouble.
Packs of stray dogs confront people on almost every road in this town. Lanes and by-lanes here are dreaded as pedestrians, cyclists and two-wheeler riders have been victims of the menace past dusk. During last four years as many as 43,422 persons were attacked by the stray dogs in the orange city. These figures have badly exposed failure of the Health Department of Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) to control dog menace in the city. Due to apathy of the civic body 36 persons died due to rabbies in last four years. This proves that the stray dogs are posing a major threat to the people, still civic body is not serious about the sterilization of the dogs to control their birth.
As per one estimate, Nagpur city has around 90,000 to 100,000 dogs roaming in different areas. A query under Right to Information Act sought by Activist Abhay Kolarkar revealed that maximum 24 deaths due to dog bite were registered in 2014-2015 while 10 deaths were registered in 2015-2016. In current year, the Health Department had registered 2 deaths in Government Medical Colleges due to dog bite.
Mikaela Barwick Daily Mail Wed, 08 Nov 2017 15:31 UTC
Local authorities expected a backlash from crocodiles (pictured) after one was shot this year
Experts have warned that a marked increase in the number of sharks and crocodiles lurking in Queensland's waters have forced more than 50 beach closures this year.
More than 420 sharks have been caught as part of the state's Shark Control Program, including one of its biggest ever to be captured, a 5.25 meter tiger shark.
Exactly 42 per cent of sharks caught since the beginning of January have been tiger sharks - widely considered one of the most deadliest in the sea.
In February 25-year-old Glenn Dickson was spearfishing off Hinchinbrooke Island, North Queensland, when a bull shark attacked him leaving him fighting for his life in hospital.
Doctors had to amputate his leg, but the young father did eventually overcome his fear and get back into the water.
Dorsal Watch app founder Sarah Beardmore told The Courier Mail: 'I think we're seeing more sharks for sure.'
Comment: To view similar reports on unusual or strange creature behaviour as well as mass animal deaths, attacks on people, rare migration movements and other related research the interested reader may wish to peruse these pages.
Comment: Extremely rare white rhino dies in Kenya - his kind nearly extinct