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Wrong place, wrong time: This South American hawk doesn't migrate, but has somehow shown up in Maine

Jim Wright
northjersey.com
Wed, 12 Dec 2018 13:22 UTC
A great black hawk, native to Central and South America, in a tree in Maine

A great black hawk, native to Central and South America, in a tree in Maine
By now, you've likely heard about the gorgeous Mandarin duck appearing almost daily in New York City's Central Park. Since its arrival in October, the web-footed wonder has become a social media sensation - even though it isn't wild or rare.

While Mandarin Patinkin, as he has been dubbed, has hogged the limelight, a genuinely rare raptor from Central and South America has arrived from out of the blue in Maine.

The great black hawk had never been reported anywhere in the United States before this year, let alone 2,000 miles from home. The young raptor first showed up in Texas in April, reappeared in August in Biddeford, Maine, and then turned up in late November in Portland, Maine.

The crowd-pleaser has been attracting gawkers there ever since, including more than 1,000 in five days.

"This is a pretty huge deal," says Doug Hitchcox, staff naturalist for Maine Audubon. "Apart from being extremely off course, the bird is also visually appealing. Being a large raptor is helpful, but it also has very long legs, making it stand out from anything else in the area."

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Snow Globe Xmas

'Sounds like someone shaking metal': Strange sounds heard in Houston, Texas sky


Sott.net
Thu, 06 Dec 2018 20:04 UTC
Strange sounds (stock)
YouTube user 'Ana Marin' shared video footage of strange sounds she heard in the Houston, Texas sky on December 5, 2018:
We live near 288 in Houston Texas, As my kids and i got home, at around 1:30 am, we heard some really loud sounds coming from the sky, it sounded as someone was shaking giant metal sheets, we do have companies and all but they are closed at night, and the only sound that we recognize is earlier in the afternoon, but its NOT close to what is in the video...
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Cloud Precipitation

Floods kill 13 in central Vietnam


The Straits Times
Thu, 13 Dec 2018 20:03 UTC
Heavy rains submerge Phan Chu Trinh Road in
© VIET NAM NEWS/ASIA NEWS NETWORK
Heavy rains submerge Phan Chu Trinh Road in Tam Ky District, the central province of Quang Nam.
Floods caused by heavy downpours have killed 13 people in central Vietnam, officials said on Thursday (Dec 13), as farmers scrambled to save crops and livestock ahead of more bad weather forecast for this week.

Torrential rains have lashed six provinces in the centre of the country since last Saturday, killing thousands of cows and chickens and flooding several cities - including the coastal resort town of Danang.

More than 50cm of rain hit some areas, with more downpours expected in the coming days, the disaster management office said on Thursday.

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Video

'Weird noises' heard in Florida skies


Sott.net
Sat, 24 Nov 2018 18:45 UTC
Strange sky sounds
© Strange Sounds
On November 24, 2018, YouTuber 'Don't forget Me now' posted a clip of 'weird noises' they heard in the Florida skies:
Crazy sky and weird sounds.
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Attention

Biological Annihilation: A Planet in Loss Mode

Subhankar Banerjee
Common Dreams
Tue, 11 Dec 2018 19:22 UTC
Baby Starfish, Olympic National Park.
© Subhankar Banerjee
Baby Starfish, Olympic National Park.
On the great vanishing happening before our eyes

If you've been paying attention to what's happening to the nonhuman life forms with which we share this planet, you've likely heard the term "the Sixth Extinction." If not, look it up. After all, a superb environmental reporter, Elizabeth Kolbert, has already gotten a Pulitzer Prize for writing a book with that title.

Whether the sixth mass species extinction of Earth's history is already (or not quite yet) underway may still be debatable, but it's clear enough that something's going on, something that may prove even more devastating than a mass of species extinctions: the full-scale winnowing of vast populations of the planet's invertebrates, vertebrates, and plants. Think of it, to introduce an even broader term, as a wave of "biological annihilation" that includes possible species extinctions on a mass scale, but also massive species die-offs and various kinds of massacres.

Someday, such a planetary winnowing may prove to be the most tragic of all the grim stories of human history now playing out on this planet, even if to date it's gotten far less attention than the dangers of climate change. In the end, it may prove more difficult to mitigate than global warming. Decarbonizing the global economy, however hard, won't be harder or more improbable than the kind of wholesale restructuring of modern life and institutions that would prevent species annihilation from continuing.

With that in mind, come along with me on a topsy-turvy journey through the animal and plant kingdoms to learn a bit more about the most consequential global challenge of our time.
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Snowflake Cold

World Snow Overview - Ski resort in Austria gets 140cms (55 inches) in 7 days


snow-forecast.com
Thu, 13 Dec 2018 18:34 UTC
Flachauwinkl

Flachauwinkl, Austria
SNOW NEWS UPDATED 13 DECEMBER 2018

It's been a remarkable week in the Alps with one of the biggest early December snowfalls in memory covering wide areas of the region. Resorts reported up to 80cm of snow falling in 24 hours in some cases and up to 1.4 metres of snow accumulating in others. Most of the snow fell between Saturday and Wednesday with the most intense period for many on Sunday and Monday.

AUSTRIA It's been an incredible week for fresh snow in Austria with the little resort of Flachauwinkl (50/150cm) topping the 7-day snowfall table with a remarkable 140cm (a few inches under five feet) of snowfall. Much of that fell between Sunday and Tuesday too. Plenty of internationally better-known ski centres saw big accumulations as well Saalbach 50/60cm - it may need to update its depth totals) also reported 140cm, 90cm (three feet) of that arriving over three days. Zell am See (0/115cm) got 116cm. Most other Austrian resorts reported 50-100cm so it's not difficult to report the conditions almost everywhere are ‘powder' as shown in our snowfinder tool.

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Question

'Creepy sounds' recorded in Ohio's night sky


Sott.net
Tue, 27 Nov 2018 18:29 UTC
Strange sounds (stock)
© vexels.com
On November 27, 2018, YouTube user 'CJ Blaze' recorded video of 'creepy sounds' they heard in the skies of Ohio:
U have to turn sound up, powers that be turned it down.
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Cloud Precipitation

China: Egg-sized hailstones severely damage crops in Jinghexiang and Yunnan


Fresh Plaza
Thu, 13 Dec 2018 14:20 UTC
crop damage

File photo
Pepper plants suffer severe damage, some bananas were crushed

An innocent rain shower in Jinghaxiang, Yunnan, suddenly turned into a hailstorm at around six in the afternoon of December 9th.

Local agricultural production areas suffered severe damage, and local farmers suffered severe losses.
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Attention

Seabird populations have dropped 70% as fishing industry competes for food

Josh Gabbatiss
Independent (UK)
Thu, 13 Dec 2018 13:54 UTC
Overall seabird numbers have dropped massively
© AFP/Getty Images
Overall seabird numbers have dropped massively since the middle of the 20th century
The world's seabirds are being pushed to the brink of extinction by the fishing industry which is competing with them for food, a new study has warned.

Populations have dropped by up to 70 per cent since the middle of the 20th century, experts said.

This is partly due to habitat destruction and pollution, but the new research led by the University of Aberdeen, has revealed that pressure from fishing has played a major role in this decline.

Scientists compared two time periods - 1970 to 1989 and 1990 to 2010 - to assess the degree of competition seabirds faced for prey species such as anchovy, mackerel and squid.

The team then estimated the annual consumption of those prey species for nearly 300 varieties of seabird, based on population counts and models.
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Camera

Rare light pillars captured in Wisconsin

Chaffin Mitchell
AccuWeather
Tue, 11 Dec 2018 06:52 UTC
Amazing light pillars appear over Beloit, Wisconsin
© Tom Purdy
Amazing light pillars appear over Beloit, Wisconsin.
A rare phenomenon called light pillars were seen beaming up to the night's sky in Beloit, Wisconsin, on Sunday evening.

The National Weather Service (NWS) reported over five hours of freezing fog in that area, which create the perfect conditions for light pillars.

Light pillars are an optical phenomenon caused when light is refracted by ice crystals. These lights tend to take on the color of the light source.

"They appear as beams of light to the observer. It is usually caused by street lights. However, any source of light can create a light pillar given proper conditions," AccuWeather Meteorologist David Samuhel said.

For ice crystals to form, the conditions need to be extremely calm and cold, without wind. For the light pillars to show, the ice crystals need to be near the ground.

"Typically, ice crystals are small enough to remain suspended in the air and only form when temperatures are below zero [F]," Samuhel said. "In most instances, temperatures are minus 10 to 20 degrees or colder."

Comment: Clearly our atmosphere is showing signs of serious change - evidently it's becoming colder:

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