Animals
S


Binoculars

Swainson's thrush from North America spotted in Shetland, Scotland after a wrong turn

Mike Merritt
The Times
Tue, 29 Oct 2019 10:24 UTC
Swainson's thrush
Swainson's thrush
One of the rarest species of visiting birds to Britain has turned up on Shetland when it should have been on its way to South America.

A Swainson's thrush, classed as "mega rare" in the UK, landed at Lerwick on Sunday, having taken a wrong turn. Instead of being in jungle it found itself several thousand miles off course in a wintry garden.

There are only usually a couple of recorded sightings in the UK each year and in many years, none. The Swainson's thrush (Catharus ustulatus), also called olive-backed thrush, can grow up to 8in long and is noted for its beautiful voice. It was named after William Swainson, an English ornithologist.

The bird breeds in Canada, Alaska and parts of the US, and migrates to Mexico or as far south as Argentina. Its coastal subspecies migrate down the Pacific coast and winter from Mexico to Costa Rica.
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Piggy Bank

Best of the Web: Global shortage after 'quarter of Earth's pigs wiped out' by swine fever

Michael Snyder
The Economic Collapse
Sat, 26 Oct 2019 21:05 UTC
Swine Flu Spread
© Bloomberg
African Swine Fever is killing millions upon millions of pigs all over the world, and this threatens to create a crippling global shortage of protein as we head into 2020. This epidemic began in China last year, and it is now also running wild in North Korea, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar and the Philippines. But this crisis is certainly not limited to Asia. According to the Washington Post, so far in 2019 there have also been outbreaks "in Belgium, Bulgaria, Hungary, Latvia, Poland, Romania, Russia and Ukraine." Overall, cases of African Swine Fever have been documented "in nearly 50 nations", and U.S. pork producers are extremely concerned that it could start spreading here too.

African Swine Fever is extremely contagious, there is no vaccine, and there is no cure. Once it starts spreading in a certain area, there isn't much that can be done "other than culling herds and loading carcasses into hazardous waste sites". Literally, we are talking about an unstoppable global plague that is an existential threat to our food supply. Of course many of us don't eat pork, but there will also be an immense strain on supplies of beef and chicken as those that eat pork are forced to turn to other alternatives. This is an exceedingly serious situation, and with each month it is just getting worse.
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Propaganda

Academic purged over rising polar bear populations

Akkad Daily
YouTube
Sun, 20 Oct 2019 11:54 UTC
polar bear
A Canadian researcher was ideologically purged for telling the truth about the rising polar bear populations.


Comment: Read in addition: University dumps professor who found polar bears thriving despite climate change

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Health

Wheelbarrow-pushing circus bear attacks Russian trainer

Will Stewart
Daily Mail
Thu, 24 Oct 2019 11:33 UTC
bear attack
Shocking video has revealed the moment a 600lb circus bear attacked its trainer in the middle of a performance in Russia.

The brown bear was pushing a wheelbarrow during the act in the western Karelia region when it suddenly lunged at the trainer, knocking him to the ground.

The animal can then be seen biting at the man's head and neck as screaming children sit just feet away, with no safety barrier between them and the bear.

The youngsters can be heard screaming as another circus employee kicks the animal in an attempt to free his colleague.

The 600lb beast was prodded with an electric shock device, as the audience fled for the only exit in the travelling circus's big top.

The trainer floored by the bear is understood to be 'injured' but no details were given.

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Bizarro Earth

Western US coastline being devastated as purple sea urchin population soars 10,000% in five years


The Guardian
Thu, 24 Oct 2019 17:24 UTC
purple sea urchin
© Terry Chea/Associated PressA purple urchin at Bodega Marine Lab in California, which is running a pilot project to remove purple urchins from the ocean floor, restore them to health, then sell them as premium seafood.
Voracious purple urchins in waters of California and Oregon pose threat to kelp forests and risk upending delicate ecosystems

Tens of millions of voracious purple sea urchins that have already chomped their way through towering underwater kelp forests in California are spreading north to Oregon, sending the delicate marine ecosystem off the shore into such disarray that other critical species are starving to death.

A recent count found 350m purple sea urchins on one Oregon reef alone - more than a 10,000% increase since 2014. And in northern California, 90% of the giant bull kelp forests have been devoured by the urchins, perhaps never to return.

Vast "urchin barrens" - stretches of denuded seafloor dotted with nothing but hundreds of the spiny orbs - have spread to coastal Oregon, where kelp forests were once so thick it was impossible to navigate some areas by boat.
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Binoculars

Shorebird swept to Dundalk, Ireland from US by hurricane

David Lynch
Dundalk Democrat
Fri, 25 Oct 2019 17:30 UTC
Rare bird swept to Dundalk from US by hurricane, says local bird expert
Rare bird swept to Dundalk from US by hurricane, says local bird expert
A bird which is understood to be extremely rare in this part of the world have been spotted along the Navvy bank in Dundalk in recent times.

According to Gerry O'Neill of Louth Bird News, the short-billed Dowitcher (pictured) has been seen around the docks in Dundalk and the Navvy Bank.

"This is probably only the fourth Irish record (of such a bird in the country) and has been very popular with birders coming from all parts of Ireland to see it."


Comment: Related: Least Bittern and other bird species blown from US to Ireland by Storm Lorenzo

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Binoculars

Tiny shorebird from the Arctic ends up in New Zealand after going thousands of kilometres off course

Dominic Harris
Stuff
Fri, 25 Oct 2019 16:54 UTC
A little stint was spotted at Lake Ellesmere last week, thousands of kilometres from home.
A little stint was spotted at Lake Ellesmere last week, thousands of kilometres from home.
A tiny bird whose usual home is in the frozen Arctic has found itself at Lake Ellesmere after overshooting its winter migration by thousands of kilometres.

The Arctic wader was spotted at Kaitorete Spit near Christchurch last week - just the fifth time it has ever been seen in New Zealand, but the second sighting this year.

The bird - a little stint, which at about 12cm in length and weighing at most 45 grams is smaller than a sparrow - was seen by ornithologist Niall Mugan, from Keystone Ecology. The identification was confirmed by city council staff carrying out predator control at the lake.

It is distinctive because of its rich coloured plumage, white throat and yellow 'V' shape pattern on its mantle, or upper back.
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Attention

Signs and Portents: Mutant 'spider-pig' born with six legs in Uruguay

Anna Savva
Daily Star (UK)
Thu, 24 Oct 2019 13:00 UTC
The piglet with six paws. This is the moment a rare piglet which has been born with six legs on a Uruguayan farm walks around in the grass.
The piglet with six paws. This is the moment a rare piglet which has been born with six legs on a Uruguayan farm walks around in the grass.
A rare mutant pig with six legs has been captured walking like a spider through the grass.

The freak piglet, which was born on a Uruguayan Farm, has caused a stir among locals who say they've never seen anything like it.

In the video, the black-and-white piglet can be seen walking in the grass with its two extra legs in the air.

Apart from its abnormal extra limbs, the baby pig is believed to be otherwise healthy.

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Attention

Hunter dies after deer he shot attacks him near Yellville, Arkansas

Ida Domingo
newschannel9.com
Thu, 24 Oct 2019 12:31 UTC
FILE - Image of Deer
© Texas Parks & Wildlife Department, Earl NottinghamFILE - Image of Deer
An Arkansas hunter died after being attacked by a deer he had just shot.

CNN says the 66-year-old man is believed to have been killed as he was hunting in the woods.

Officials say he was found with antler puncture wounds on his body.

The man had made plans with his nephew to field-dress the deer's body together.

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Cloud Lightning

Lightning bolt kills 8 cows in Ondo, Nigeria

Peter Dada
Punch
Thu, 24 Oct 2019 09:56 UTC
dead cows
No fewer than eight cows were killed by lightning at a mountain in Oyinmo Quarters, Ikare Akoko the headquarters of Akoko North East Local Government Area of Ondo State late on Tuesday evening.

The incident happened barely a month after 36 cows were killed by lightning in Ijare town in Ifedore Local Government Area of the state.

Comment: Lightning bolt kills 36 cows on Ondo sacred hill in Nigeria

It was gathered that the eight cows, owned by some Fulani herdsmen, were struck dead while grazing on top of the mountain. The two Fulani herders who accompanied the cows were said to have fled the scene after the incident.
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