Earth ChangesS


Binoculars

Bean goose from Eurasia takes a wrong turn and winds up on the Oregon Coast

Jessica Robinson
nwnewsnetwork.org
Fri, 26 Dec 2014 18:07 UTC
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© Sarah Swanson A tundra bean-goose (top) has been spotted at the Nestucca Bay National Wildlife Refuge in Oregon.
A bird rarely seen in North America has turned a small bay on the Oregon Coast into a major destination for bird watchers this winter.

Sarah Swanson and her husband Max Smith run a blog in Portland called the Must-See Bird Blog. They tried to explain what it's like to spot a tundra bean-goose at Nestucca Bay in Oregon.

"It's just so exciting, I'm trying to compare it something for a non-birder," Swanson said.

"Maybe it's like running into a celebrity at the mall, someone you've always idolized," Smith suggested.

Yes, in the celebrity news of bird watching this has been a top story. It's the first-ever confirmed sighting of a tundra bean-goose in the lower 48. Usually these brown and gray geese spend their winters in Asia and Europe.

In birding parlance, seeing one here is a "mega-rarity."

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Snowflake Cold

French Alps hit by massive snowfall, thousands of cars stranded


RT
Sun, 28 Dec 2014 16:55 UTC
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© AFP Photo/Jean-Pierre ClatotA car is stuck in the snow on December 27, 2014 on the road to Les Saisies ski resort in Savoie, central-eastern France.
Massive snowfall, aggravated by strong winds and ice in the French Alps, has trapped thousands of holidaymakers, with up to 15,000 people forced to spend Saturday night in emergency accommodation centers in the Savoie region in southeastern France.

Conditions remained difficult on Sunday, a spokesman for the Savoie prefecture said. Authorities set up shelters in a dozen towns for stranded tourists in the area.

The chaos on Saturday left nearly 2,000 passengers stranded at Chambery airport in southeastern France. A spokesman for the Savoy region, which comprises roughly the territory of the Western Alps between Lake Geneva in the north and Dauphiné in the south, said: "We have not estimated the number of people who spent the [Saturday] night in their cars."

Comment: See also: Snow and icy weather sweeps across Europe, stranding drivers

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Binoculars

Warbler that should be wintering in western Mexico turns up in Louisiana

Jonathan Olivier
The Courier
Sun, 28 Dec 2014 15:48 UTC
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Lucy's Warbler. It is normally found in the Sonoran desert and winters along the Pacific coast of northern Mexico.
A bird rarely seen in Louisiana was among 130 species heard or spotted on Grand Isle during the National Audubon Society's annual winter bird count.

A Lucy's warbler, which normally lives in the U.S. Southwest or in Mexico, was the exciting find of the day on Grand Isle, said Chris Brantley, who organized the count on Louisiana's only inhabited barrier island and one of nearly 30 planned around Louisiana between mid-December and Jan. 5.

There are only a few records of the bird ever being seen in Louisiana, Brantley said.
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Range Map

Comment: Similar recent reports of birds losing their way across the Northern Hemisphere: Four lost flamingos fly NORTH for the winter and turn up in Siberia

Wrong place, wrong time: European robin turns up thousands of miles away in China

Rare bird from Mongolia turns up in Wakefield, UK

Wrong time, wrong place: Rare bird found in Barrie, Canada

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Snowflake Cold

Snow and icy weather sweeps across Europe, stranding drivers


The Bismark Tribune
Sun, 28 Dec 2014 11:32 UTC
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© Arne DedertA man clears the street during snowfall in Wiesbaden, Germany, Saturday Dec. 27, 2014. Weather forecasts predict colder temperatures and snowfall for Germany.
Snow and icy weather swept through parts of Europe on Saturday, stranding drivers overnight and leaving thousands of homes without power in Britain.

Snow also covered parts of Switzerland and southwestern Germany, and more than 20 centimeters (nearly eight inches) of snow has fallen in higher parts of Germany's Black Forest.

Many motorists in Britain were forced to abandon their cars or were trapped in vehicles for hours after becoming snowed in. Dozens of people traveling from Sheffield to London spent the night in a church after their bus became stuck.

Parts of northern England saw 11 centimeters (4.3 inches) of snow. Western Power Distribution said 36,000 customers were without power, and another 69,000 had short interruptions to supplies. Staff worked through the night to reconnect customers, but thousands in the East Midlands region were still affected.

Liverpool's John Lennon Airport and Leeds Bradford International closed late Friday as workers cleared snow from the runways. The airports have reopened.

British weather forecasts predict more snow showers, mainly in the north, though the main threat would be ice on roads.

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Snowflake Cold

15,000 vehicles trapped by snow and ice in Savoy, France


BBC
Sat, 27 Dec 2014 11:16 UTC
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Snow and ice in the French Alps have stranded 15,000 vehicles, snarling up holiday traffic to and from ski resorts, French media report.

The country declared an orange weather alert, its second-highest, as local authorities scrambled to put up motorists for the night.

One man died when his vehicle slid into a ravine in the Isere region.

The government asked drivers to "exercise the utmost caution" and avoid travel if possible.

Three people died in other snow-related incidents across France earlier this week, according to French daily Le Monde.

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Attention

Second dead whale found in December on Odisha Coast, India


bhubaneswarbuzz.com
Sat, 27 Dec 2014 21:13 UTC
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In the second incident of its kind this month, the carcass of a large whale was found at the Gouda Nuagaon beach under Krushnaprasad block near Brahmagiri in Odisha's Puri district today.

The dead whale measuring around 30 feet in length, 12-15 feet in girth and weighing approximately 10 tonnes was sighted by villagers at about 2 pm today.

Curious villagers have gathered in huge numbers on the beach to have a glimpse of the large aquatic mammal. Awestruck by the size of the dead creature, the villagers said they had never seen anything like in their lifetime.

Comment: See also: Dead sperm whale found off Odisha coast, India

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Cloud Precipitation

14 killed and 750,000 affected by flooding, mudslides in Sri Lanka


economictimes.indiatimes.com
Fri, 26 Dec 2014 20:21 UTC
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At least 14 people have been killed and 750,000 affected in Sri Lanka due to floods and mudslides caused by heavy rains across the country in the past three days as the air force deployed helicopters for rescue operations in the central hills today.

"At least 14 people are dead while 11 remain missing in Badulla," police said.

Helicopters were deployed after flash floods caused mudslides and several roads were rendered impassable due to incessant rains.

The worst affected was Rilpola town in the central hill district of Badulla where five people were killed as mounds of earth fell on homes.
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Bizarro Earth

2004 Indian Ocean tsunami catastrophe: Ten years on, still no answer to why U.S. government agencies failed to alert affected countries

Michel Chossudovsky
Global Research
Fri, 26 Dec 2014 00:00 UTC
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One of the most destructive and powerful earthquakes in recorded history, more than a quarter of a million recorded deaths, local economies destroyed, the lives of entire communities shattered, and no serious investigation into the flaws of the global seismic warning system is contemplated.

According to Columbia University's Earth Institute the M-9.0 Sumatra - Andaman Island earthquake on December 26th released energy, equivalent roughly to 700 million Hiroshima bombs.

Seismic information regarding what scientists identify as a "rare great earthquake", was available in near real time (i.e. almost immediately) to seismic centers around the World.

Other types of data, including satellite imagery were also available in near real time.

The advanced global seismic information and communications systems were fully operational.

Why then, did the information not get out on the morning of December 26th?

Tens of thousands of lives could have been saved.

Comment: So the Powers That Be may have stood by while the Christmas 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami wiped out a quarter of a million people.

It's a scary thought, but it's worth considering, especially in light of how we know - as described in Naomi Klein's The Shock Doctrine - Western and local oligarchs behaved in the aftermath of the disaster: they left the survivors to rot while they carved up valuable coastal real estate for the tourism industry.

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Attention

Second manatee found dead in a month, South Mississippi


wlox.com
Thu, 25 Dec 2014 15:49 UTC
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This is the manatee that washed ashore in Waveland
Marine biologists are in Waveland this morning. They rushed to Hancock County after getting reports that a dead manatee washed ashore.

Representatives from IMMS say this is the second manatee to be found in Mississippi waters this month. They call this a "very unusual" trend, because during the winter, manatees aren't normally in the northern Gulf of Mexico. They usually migrate to Florida.

According to the Save the Manatee Club, "Manatees can be found in shallow, slow-moving rivers, estuaries, saltwater bays, canals, and coastal areas - particularly where seagrass beds or freshwater vegetation flourish. Manatees are a migratory species. Within the United States, they are concentrated in Florida in the winter. In summer months, they can be found as far west as Texas and as far north as Massachusetts, but summer sightings in Alabama, Georgia and South Carolina are more common."

Manatees are an endangered species.

Comment: See also: Manatee from Florida makes rare visit to Texas waters

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Wolf

Indiana man killed by his own pit bull terrier on Christmas Day

Amy R. Connolly
upi.com
Sat, 27 Dec 2014 14:41 UTC
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A 40-year-old man who gave his pit bull a rawhide bone as a Christmas gift was attacked and killed by the dog.

Edward L. Cahill was found dead on the living room floor with bite marks on his arms and face, the Porter County coroner said. Cahill was home alone with his two pit bulls on Christmas morning when he gave Fat Boy a bone. When his wife arrived home later in the afternoon, she found Cahill in a pool of blood and the dog nearby.

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