Earth ChangesS


Binoculars

Lost migrating bird makes rare visit to Mankato, Minnesota

Edie Schmierbach
Mankato Free Press
Mon, 12 Jan 2015 19:26 UTC
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© Chad Heins.This male varied thrush was photographed from a window in the home of Gerald and Jill Binstock of rural Rapidan.
Neighbors probably wondered what's up at Jill and Gerald Binstock's place lately.

People with binoculars - one man stood in their backyard for an hour Saturday - have been showing up outside the rural Rapidan couple's home, obviously looking for something.

Area birdwatchers have been hoping to catch sight of a rare avian visitor to Minnesota. A male varied thrush first started to show up at the Binstocks' feeders Thursday.

"I was watching for the little wanderer," said one of the birders, Chad Heins, who is a biology instructor at Bethany Lutheran College in Mankato.

After an hour or so, Heins got his chance to observe the bird who resembles its cousin, the American robin, but has distinct orange markings near its eyes.

Comment: See also: Cold weather movement? Southern California invaded by dozens of rare varied thrushes

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Arrow Down

30-foot sinkhole opens up in Lafayette, Colorado

Marc Stewart
thedenverchannel.com
Mon, 12 Jan 2015 18:47 UTC
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A massive sinkhole suddenly opened up on a street in Lafayette on Monday morning, collapsing into an old mine shaft and nearly swallowing an SUV.

The 30-foot by 15-foot hole on East Cleveland Street near Foote Avenue is between 15 and 20 feet deep and partially filled with water.

A man who lives in the area had an extremely close call when his car almost fell in early this morning.

"In the moment, my truck was almost on top of me," said Lafayette resident Aurelio Zambrano.

Zambrano's white Jeep was trapped on the edge of the massive sinkhole.

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Cow

Cow jumps from moving truck in Russia

Kara O'Neill
Daily Mirror, UK
Wed, 14 Jan 2015 13:03 UTC
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It's not every day you see a cow perform a daredevil stunt like this one.

Shocked motorists on a high-speed carriageway in Russia captured the hilarious footage of the bovine animal making its great escape from the travelling lorry.

The curious creature sticks it head out of the back of the truck before taking a tentative step onto the icy road below.

After skidding on its knees for a few metres, the cow emerges from the stunt unhurt and promptly stands up to take in its new surroundings.

While it remains unknown whether the animal was being shipped off to the abattoir, this cow wasn't taking any risks as it made a break for it.

Luckily, the vehicle behind the truck had plenty of time to stop, meaning the creature was safe and sound, despite his udderly dramatic stunt.


Comment: See also: Cow flees slaugherhouse in Pocatello, Idaho

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Cloud Precipitation

Flooding in Mozambique and Malawi claims at least 40 lives


Press TV
Tue, 13 Jan 2015 23:34 UTC
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© UnknownFlooded roads in Mozambique (file photo)

Flooding has claimed at least 40 lives in Mozambique and neighboring Malawi, where a state of emergency has been declared over almost a third of the country.

A group of 25 school children was swept away by torrents in Mozambique on Monday, and 18 others have been reported missing in the country, whose large eastern swathes have been swamped.

In the town of Mocuba in central Zambezia Province, where the Licungo River overflowed its banks, 15,000 people have lost their homes. The flooding of the river has been described as the worst since 1971.

The authorities have decreed maximum alert in the north and center of the country, warning that the rains would continue.

Malawi officials said at least 19 people died in the southeast African country, and nearly 3,900 homes had to be abandoned. Much of the country's center and western border region is under water.

The region is likely to face at least two more days of torrential rain carried by late summer storms, according to meteorologists.
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Bizarro Earth

6th earthquake in 2 days rattles Connecticut


WCVB
Tue, 13 Jan 2015 23:16 UTC
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Another minor earthquake has rattled eastern Connecticut.

Boston College's Weston Observatory says the 2.1 magnitude earthquake at about 7:30 a.m. Tuesday was in Plainfield. It was in the same area as five small earthquakes over five hours Monday morning.

The strongest of those was 3.1 magnitude and could be felt in Massachusetts and Rhode Island.

Last Thursday, an earthquake with a magnitude of 2.0 to 2.2 was felt in Plainfield. Homeowners reported it was strong enough to shake picture frames off the walls.

A research scientist at the Weston Observatory said such a series of small earthquakes in the Northeast is not unusual because the eastern U.S. is atop a tectonic plate affected by geological pressure.
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Snowflake Cold

Volcano eruptions found to have cooled global temperatures since 2000

Richard Gray
Daily Mail
Mon, 12 Jan 2015 22:25 UTC
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Eruptions of volcanoes like Tavurvur in Papa New Guinea in 2006 had a greater impact on the climate in the past 15 years than had previously been appreciated and may require climate models to be revised
Small volcanic eruptions over the past 20 years have been protecting the Earth from global warming, according to a new study.


Comment: That's an interesting twist on the facts. The earth is cooling because of increased volcano activity, and this is being presented as good news! We've said it before, and we'll say it again: there is NO global warming problem on Earth. It's a myth propagated by scientists and the PTB to distract the public from the reality of cosmic catastrophes and their role in global weather phenomenon. People ought to be concerned about global cooling, not happy about it "protecting" the Earth from nonexistent global warming.


Scientists have confirmed that droplets of sulphur-rich aerosols spewed into the upper atmosphere by volcanoes have been reflecting sunlight away from the Earth.

Until recently it was thought that only particularly large eruptions had any noticeable affect on the climate.

However, the new study has confirmed results from the end of last year that showed these small eruptions can have an accumulative impact on global temperature.

This could have helped decrease the global temperatures by between 0.05°C to 0.12°C over the past 15 years.

Since 1998, the warmest year on record, the steep increase in global temperatures seen during the 1990s has levelled off, failing to match computer model predictions for climate change.

This pause, or hiatus, has been blamed on weak solar activity and increased uptake of heat by the world's oceans.
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This graph shows average land and ocean temperature anomalies between 1961 and 1990 around the world
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Fish

More mass animal deaths occurring now than ever before, study claims

Jonathan O'Callaghan
Daily Mail, UK
Tue, 13 Jan 2015 18:27 UTC
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Three US institutions say mass die-offs are now more common. They have increased by one event per year for 70 years. Pictured are dead tilapia floating near Salton Sea Beach in California, US on 19 Januray 11.
Mass die-offs of certain animals has increased in frequency every year for seven decades, according to a new study.

Researchers found that such events, which can kill more than 90 per cent of a population, are increasing among birds, fish and marine invertebrates.

The reasons for the die-offs are diverse, with effects tied to humans such as environmental contamination accounting for about a fifth of them.

The research was carried out by three US institutions - the University of San Diego, Yale University and the University of California, Berkeley - and published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
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Wolf

Jackals attack 5 people in India


The Tribune (India)
Sun, 11 Jan 2015 17:32 UTC
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© Wikimedia Commons, Steve GarvieAn adult male golden jackal.
The increasing number of jackals in Kulangam and a few adjoining villages in frontier Kupwara district has created fear among the residents.

Five persons, including three women, have been injured in attacks by jackals in the past three days. The injured have been identified as Hajra Begum, Abdul Hamid, Fahmeeda, Razia Akther and Bashir Ahmad. They are undergoing treatment at District Hospital, Handwara.

"I had come out of my house to attend the nature's call when a jackal attacked me. Thankfully, I received injuries in my legs and not on any vital organ," said Abdul Hamid, a resident of Kulangam.

Locals said after the sunset, jackals enter residential areas and pose a threat to humans and livestock.

Comment: See also: 8 people attacked by jackal in Iran

Demented jackal attacks devotees inside temple severely injuring 3 in India

Pack of jackals injure 17 villagers in Nepal

Jackal attacks 2 children outside their house in Goa, India

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Wolf

8 people attacked by jackal in Iran


irna.ir
Sun, 28 Dec 2014 17:12 UTC
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© Wikimedia Commons, Steve GarvieAn adult male golden jackal.
A wild jackal attached eight people mostly children in the city of Bajestan, Khorasan Razavi, on Sunday.

The hungry jackal attack eight people in the city most of them children and injured them, the police said.

They received outpatient medical treatment, but, five of them stayed at the hospital.

Commander of Police in Bajestan Colonel Mohammad Ali Sadeqian said police arrived at the scene immediately and took the injured people to nearby hospital.

Every year, in the winter season wild animals come to residential areas in foray into food.
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Bizarro Earth

Underwater volcano off Tonga erupts causing ocean to turn blood red

Matt Siegel
Reuters
Tue, 13 Jan 2015 03:43 UTC
hunga tonga-hunga Ha'apai volcano
The Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai underwater volcano, located about 65 km (40 miles) north of the capital Nukualofa, was sending volcanic ash up to 4,500 metres (14,765 feet) into the air.
An underwater volcano off Tonga was spewing ash high into the air on Tuesday, causing several carriers to suspend air travel to the South Pacific island nation and turning the surrounding ocean blood red, residents and officials said.

The Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai underwater volcano, located about 65 km (40 miles) north of the capital Nuku‛alofa, was sending volcanic ash up to 4,500 meters (14,765 feet) into the air, the Wellington Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre (VAAC) said.

The volcano, which first erupted in 2009, had been rumbling in recent weeks before exploding violently in the past few days, The New Zealand Herald newspaper reported.

An Air New Zealand flight between Auckland and Nuku‛alofa on Monday was diverted to Samoa and later returned to New Zealand because of the volcano, the airline said in a statement.

Comment: Volcanoes have been quite active recently - this map shows eruptions in the previous month:



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