The bitter winter that kept many New Yorkers shivering well into March had a silver lining for birdwatchers - driving rare ducks typically spotted only in climes further north down to the city.

Red-necked grebes, which normally stay in the northwest and Canada, have set up shop in Central Park and were spotted as recently as March 30, birders said. White-winged scoters, more common upstate but rarely spotted in the city, have been seen in Inwood Hill Park, sparking enthusiastic posts by birders on blogs, YouTube and the popular mapping website eBird.

Both species seemed to have moved south because the colder-than-usual winter temperatures froze their natural habitat - making it difficult for them to feed, said Andrew Farnsworth, a researcher at Cornell's Lab of Ornithology.

"When the freeze happens, they disperse to wherever they can find something that appears to have open water," said Farnsworth, who studies bird travel patterns. "There was a huge movement of water fowl off those lakes.

"The red-necked grebe were moving tremendously this year [traveling] as far south as they needed to go," Farnsworth said of the distinctively plumaged birds.

A walk along the peaceful bike path off the Hennepin Canal in Milan, Illinois looks like something out of a horror film.

Thousands of dead fish have washed up on shore as of Sunday, March 30, 2014.

Believe it or not, Iowa Department of Natural Resources Conservation Officer Jeff Harrison says it's normal.

"This happens after every winter. When we have so many days with cold temperatures, the snow covers the ice on these ponds and rivers. Sunlight then can't penetrate into the water. That means oxygen is lacking for fish in the water," Harrison said.

A killer tusker elephant - a wild elephant with tusks - was on a rampage through a West Bengal village on Monday when it stopped to carefully unearth a crying baby girl beneath the rubble of the house it had begun to demolish.

The 10-month-old's father, Dipak Mahato, told the Times of India that he and his wife were having dinner at about 8pm when they heard a "cracking sound" and a huge crash from the bedroom.

"We ran over and were shocked to see the wall in pieces and a tusker standing over our baby," Mr Mahato said.

"She was crying and there were huge chunks of the wall lying all around and on the cot. The tusker started moving away but when our child started crying again, it returned and used its trunk to remove the debris."

A rare animal might be hunting with its mother in Charleston Harbor - an albino dolphin.

A young white dolphin has surfaced near the Wappoo Creek bridge on Folly Road most afternoons the past few weeks, wowing spectators, including diners at the Charleston Crab House, who jump from their seats to the window and deck outside.

"They go crazy. They scream," said owner John Keener. "It runs right alongside its mom all the time."

Jim Mossman, a videographer for the city of Charleston, inadvertently might have shot a video of the baby in January, while capturing a pod in the Ashley River near the West Ashley Bikeway. The smaller dolphin's coloring drew him, he said. "I don't think I've ever seen a baby dolphin, much less a white one."

An albino dolphin is an eye-catcher, but the animal will have a tough go in the wild. Still, its appearance is a heart-warmer in a year when a virus has been decimating the population. More than 1,000 dolphin have died so far, more than 100 in South Carolina alone. And a second wave of the virus-caused deaths is expected as waters warm.

The bloated carcass of a whale the length of a bus has been found at a remote beach in the New Territories' northeastern tip.

The 10.8-metre-long animal, found beached in an inner bay off Hung Shek Mun, in Plover Cove Country Park, was thought to be a female Bryde's whale.

When marine experts arrived yesterday morning, the rotting carcass was lying partially submerged in the shallow water, giving off a stench. It had a number of cuts on its body.

Taiwan's Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said on Tuesday that it had found a third dead dolphin in four days on a beach in northern Taiwan's Miaoli county.

CGA personnel who checked the dolphin after receiving a report from local residents, said it was a bottlenose dolphin around 2.5 meters long and weighing around 230 kilograms.

As the carcass had started to decompose, CGA officials buried it on the beach with the help of the Taiwan Cetacean Society.

The CGA discovered the other two dead dolphins in the county on March 21 and 23.

Scientists have recently reported that mass extinctions of marine animals may soon be occurring at alarmingly rapid rates than previously projected due to pollution, rising water temperatures and loss of habitat. Many land species also face a similar fate for the same reasons. But perhaps the biggest foreboding danger of all facing humans is the loss of the global honeybee population. The consequence of a dying bee population impacts man at the highest levels on our food chain, posing an enormously grave threat to human survival. Since no other single animal species plays a more significant role in producing the fruits and vegetables that we humans commonly take for granted yet require near daily to stay alive, the greatest modern scientist Albert Einstein once prophetically remarked, "Mankind will not survive the honeybees' disappearance for more than five years."

Since 2006 beekeepers have been noticing their honeybee populations have been dying off at increasingly rapid rates. Subsequently researchers have been scrambling to come up with an accurate explanation and an effective strategy to save the bees and in turn save us homo sapiens from extinction. Recent harsh winters that stay freezing cold well into spring have been instrumental in decimating the honeybee population in Iowa by up to 70% as well as the other historically high yielding honey states - the Dakotas, Montana, Minnesota. The northern Plains and Midwestern states that have regionally always produced the nation's most honey have been severely hurt by the long harsh winters in the last couple years. Florida as the third largest honey producer and especially California always among the top producers have been hit especially hard by decreasing bee colony populations. In 2006 when the problem of bee loss first was noticed, California was right up at the top with North Dakota producing nearly twice as much honey as the next state South Dakota but its bee numbers have incurred such heavy losses that in 2011, though still second, California's honey production fell by nearly half in just six years. The recent severe drought in California has become an additional factor driving both its honey yield and bee numbers down as less rain means less flowers available to pollinate.

Animal welfare officials are investigating whether a religious or ritualistic practice was behind the death of nine animals - six chickens, a pygmy goat and two pigeons - whose carcasses were found along an isolated path of Rock Creek Park in the District.

Some of the animals had been decapitated. Some still had their heads, but their throats had been slashed. Investigators believe they were killed elsewhere and dumped in the park.

"They were sacrificed and left there," said Scott Giacoppo, a vice president with the Washington Humane Society.

The carcasses were taken Wednesday to a laboratory in Virginia for necropsies. Veterinarians and investigators will look for clues that could point to a specific group or individual.

But what was done to the animals may not be a crime - if they were killed in a humane way.

"You have to do it in one fell swoop," Giacoppo said. "It has to cause instantaneous death. Anything short of that we can argue, is cruelty, and [we can] prosecute."

The animals were found Tuesday afternoon by a person walking along the path in a section of park in the 3500 block of 17th Street NW, near Piney Branch Parkway. The area sits behind a large apartment complex.

Thousands of dead fish found in a pond in Killingly happened naturally, according to environmental officials.

The Department of Energy and Environmental Protection said thousands of fish and frogs died at Colwell Pond, also known as Lions Park Pond. Many of them froze in clusters along a very popular neighborhood pond.

It was first reported by a neighbor who said she noticed it in an area off of Lewis Boulevard. She said she was concerned that chemicals may have caused it.

"We've never seen so many dead fish," said Malinda Frantz, of Killingly. "In 30 years, I've lived in the neighborhood and I've never seen dead fish. I've never seen dead fish like this."

The DEEP classified it as a winter fish kill, which meant the amount of dissolved oxygen in the pond had been depleted. It said snow or thick ice that can cover ponds blocks sunlight, and that prevents plants in the water from producing oxygen.

DEEP said fish typically die in the winter and are usually noticed after the ice melts.

Employees with the town's parks and recreation department told Eyewitness News the fish will be cleaned up when the pond thaws out a little bit more.

The bodies of five kittens, only weeks old, have been found mutilated behind a Melbourne shop.

A passer-by found the kittens dead with multiple stab wounds behind a business in Blackburn South on March 19, police say.

A RSPCA forensic vet performed autopsies on the kittens.

"It appears these kittens would have all died a slow and painful death given the injuries they had," Constable Libby Harris of Box Hill police said.

"It's shocking to think anyone would want to harm any animal in that way, let alone five tiny kittens.

"It's also a concern as we know people prepared to kill or injure animals in this way may also be prepared to commit further offences."

Source: Australian Associated Press