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Birds with Deformed Beaks Appearing in Alaska, Northwest, and Canada at Record-Breaking Rate

Robert Weller
DScriber
Mon, 08 Nov 2010 01:00 UTC
Image
© U.S. Geological Survey and British Columbia Health Ministry
U.S. officials believe an increasing number birds, including the ones in these photos are deformed, but don't know what's causing the problem
With the federal government about to make a decision on whether to permit oil drilling in the fragile Beaufort Sea, it seems a good time to ask if Alaska can take any more. Since the 1890s, the vast hinterland has been a haven for gold rushers, fishermen, whalers, and oil and natural gas barons.

As for the birds, they were observers in the background. Now they may be paying a price for all that human activity in Alaska and along the Pacific Northwest.

A study released by the U.S. Geological Survey on Monday documents that scientists have discovered an unusually high rate of bird beak abnormalities. Actually, the highest rate ever. And while researchers have no idea why, some are already pointing the finger at the activities of mankind.

"The prevalence of these strange deformities is more than ten times what is normally expected in a wild bird population," said Colleen Handel of the USGS in an article published in The Auk, a quarterly journal of ornithology.
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Bizarro Earth

Indonesia's Mount Dempo volcanic activity intensifies: official


People Daily / Xinhua
Mon, 08 Nov 2010 19:38 UTC
Image
© sugengpribadi.com
The volcanic activity of Mount Dempo in Pagaralam of South Sumatra province, has been increasing recently, with at least 79 tremors recorded last week, the Jakarta Post quoted an official as saying on Monday.

"Eight deep volcanic quakes and one surface quake were recorded between Oct. 25 and 31," Mt. Dempo observation post chief Slamet said.

He said Mt. Dempo was different to other volcanoes in Indonesia, particularly because of its wide and vast crater.

"This means there can be changes in its volcanic activity at any time," Slamet said.

Dempo erupted in 1838, creating a lava lake covering an area of around 3,000 square meters.

Despite that only volcanic tremors had been recorded, Slamet said, residents living on Dempo's slopes needed to be on the alert because of its unpredictable nature.
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Bizarro Earth

Troubling Global Volcanic Activity on the Rise

Alan Caruba
Ice Age Now
Wed, 03 Nov 2010 11:24 UTC
volcano
© NA

The news is all about the Tuesday's U.S. elections, but some of us are concerned about the news on Monday regarding a possible eruption of the Grimsvotn volcano in Iceland. Never heard of it? You will.

Grimsvotn is the most active volcano in Iceland. The one that made a lot of news earlier in 2010 was Eyjafjallajokull that, while relatively small, generated such a huge cloud of ash that it disrupted air travel across western and northern Europe for six days in April.

Here's why volcano watchers around the world are on high alert.

This past week, in Indonesia, after a tsunami killed several hundred people, Mount Merapi rumbled to life forcing thousands to flee back to evacuation centers as 38 lava avalanches occurred with pyroclastic flows down the south and west slopes running outward for seven kilometers. They incinerate everything in their path.

In August, a volcano on Sumatra erupted for the first time in 400 years.

There is a "Ring of Fire" that stretches approximately 25,000 miles in a horseshoe from eastern Asia to the western shores of North and South America. It has 452 volcanoes of which 75% are the world's most active or dormant.

Comment: For more information please see Signs Supplement - Super Volcanoes.

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Cloud Lightning

Massive winter storm to hit Ireland tonight and tomorrow


Irish Central
Sun, 07 Nov 2010 16:42 UTC
Image
A massive winter storm is set to hit Ireland with hurricane-like winds and flooding on Sunday night and Monday authorities say.

Coastal areas are expected to be hardest hit and major flooding alerts have been issued for counties Dublin, Waterford, Cork, Clare and Galway.

The surprise winter storm will pack a real punch say Irish weather forecaster,s who have issued an early alert of severe flooding and dangerous driving conditions.
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Binoculars

Pink River Dolphins At Risk from Drought

Richard Gray
The Telegraph, UK
Sun, 07 Nov 2010 03:30 UTC
Image
© Kevin Schafer/Barcroft USA
An endangered species of pink dolphin has suffered devastating declines in its population due to a drought in the Amazon.

Numbers of the rare pink river dolphin, or Bufeo as it is known to indigenous people, have almost halved over the past year, according to a survey by conservation experts.

They say severe drought that has been moving down the Amazon basin from the upper reaches of the river in Peru have caused fish populations to plummet.

This has left the Amazon river dolphins, which can grow to more than 9 feet in length, struggling to find enough food. Surveys conducted in the Peruvian Amazon have revealed a 47 per cent drop in numbers.

Dr Richard Bodmer, an ecologist from the University of Kent and the Wildlife Conservation Society who has been working with environmental charity Earthwatch to monitor changes in the area, said extremely low water levels in tributaries to the Amazon River had dramatically impacted on dolphin numbers.
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Binoculars

UK: Churches Suffering from Bats

Jonathan Wynne-Jones
The Telegraph, UK
Sun, 07 Nov 2010 04:00 UTC
Image
© Corbis
The number of bats roosting in churches has grown as woodland has been destroyed and it has become increasingly popular to convert barns into homes
Bats in the belfry are an age-old phenomenon - but they are increasingly moving into the aisles and naves, presenting a growing threat to thousands of churches.

Now, the Church of England is to hold its first summit to examine how to save its buildings from bats, which are estimated to nest in more than a third of all parish churches.

Experts will meet next week at Lambeth Palace, the residence of the Archbishop of Canterbury, to develop a national strategy to tackle a problem costing hundreds of thousands of pounds.

The number of bats roosting in churches has grown as woodland has been destroyed and it has become increasingly popular to convert barns into homes.

Some rural churches are struggling to stay open as the problem is particularly acute in the countryside, where the congregations tend to be much smaller.
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Bizarro Earth

Whales found dead on Donegal beach


RTE News
Sun, 07 Nov 2010 00:42 UTC
Image
© RTE
Thirty-five whales have beached and died on an island off Burtonport in Co Donegal. The whales were discovered this afternoon on a beach on Rutland Island and are understood to be pilot whales, mostly mothers and calves.

The whales had been seen feeding in the area around Aranmore Island since Tuesday. Pilot whales have a tendency to beach themselves in large numbers and a similar incident occurred in Co Mayo some years ago.
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Bizarro Earth

Volcanic Activity Forces Airlines to Cancel Flights to Indonesian Capital

Sarah Dilorenzo
TheSpec
Sat, 06 Nov 2010 00:00 UTC
Image
© AP Photo
Passengers enter a terminal as an information screen shows cancelled international flights at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Jakarta, Indonesia, Saturday, Nov. 6, 2010.
Mount Merapi - International airlines cancelled flights into Indonesia's capital Saturday after a volcano hundreds of kilometres to the east unleashed its most powerful eruption in a century, incinerating villagers as they fled a searing gas cloud.

The number of people killed by Mount Merapi in the past two weeks climbed to 138, as a tiny hospital at the foot of the mountain struggled to cope with survivors, some with burns on up to 95 per cent of their bodies.

The only sign of life in one man, whose eyes were milky grey in colour and never blinked, was the shallow rising and falling of his chest. Others, their lungs choked with abrasive volcanic ash, struggled to breathe.

Indonesia's most volatile mountain unleashed a surge of searing gas, rocks and debris Friday that raced down its slopes at highway speeds, mowing down the slope-side village of Bronggang and leaving a trail of charred corpses in its path.
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Better Earth

Extinct bears found underwater


New Scientist
Sat, 06 Nov 2010 18:54 UTC
Image
© Guillermo de Anda Alanis/Yucatan Autonomous University
Underwater archaeologists have discovered the skulls of four Arctotherium - a genus of short-faced bear that went extinct 11,300 years ago - 42 metres down in a submerged cave on the Yucatan peninsula, Mexico.

The 25-30 cm long skulls belong to two adult bears - one of each sex - and two bears that had not reached full maturity. Guillermo de Anda Alanis and his team from the Yucatan Autonomous University discovered them whilst diving in a cavern. Skeletal remains of five humans were also found nearby. Dating of the human skeletons will establish if the two finds are related.

The skulls will force a rethink of bear biogeography in the Americas - Arctotherium was previously known to only reside in South America. The only representative of the short-faced bear family alive today is the spectacled bear of Venezuela.
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Nuke

Washington, US: Radioactive Rabbit Waste Found At Ex-Nuclear Facility


KPTV
Fri, 05 Nov 2010 09:58 UTC
Image
© Stoiber
Rabbit droppings found in southeast Washington contain a radioactive material.

The animal waste was found within 100 yards of a facility recently demolished as part of the environmental cleanup at the Hanford Site. The 586-square-mile site produced nuclear materials for the U.S. government from the 1940s until the late '80s.
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