Preliminary autopsy results as to the reason behind what is now estimated to be 4,000-5,000 blackbirds that mysteriously fell from the sky in Beebe, Arkansas is multiple blunt trauma to their vital organs, a state veterinarian related to NBC Monday. Initially, it was thought that fireworks were to blame but the latest findings seem to rule that out.
Personally, I'm still going with the alien theory in that visitors from another galaxy or universe or wherever, became lost and having no experience speaking with intelligent earth species, assumed the crows were a good source of information.
Thinking further, though (far too much time on my hands), the new theory makes you wonder what the crows could have encountered that could have caused such a wide-spread death.
As if Beebe and the state of Arkansas don't have enough to worry about, officials are also looking into the reason why approximately 100,000 fish turning up dead in the state's northwest. Dead drum fish were found floating in the water lining the banks of a 20-mile stretch of the Arkansas River near Ozark, 125 miles northwest of Little Rock.
As Roseanne Roseannadanna used to say: it's always something.
Showing posts with label wildlife. Show all posts
Showing posts with label wildlife. Show all posts
Monday, January 03, 2011
Sunday, January 02, 2011
Still another way to get injured - 1000 falling dead birds
What a way to start off the New Year. This is the type of story that Alfred Hitchcock would have loved, except that it's not fiction. The next time you're going through the town of Beebe, Arkansas, perhaps it would be a good idea not to look up. Or maybe wear a hard hat.
Seems that in excess of 1,000 - wait for it - black birds suddenly and without any prior warning, dropped out of the night sky. Imagine being out on an evening stroll and suddenly being beaned by a blackbird (say that a dozen times fast).
"Excuse me (insert name of person accompanying you on a walk) blank-blank. I know that it rains cats and dogs on occasion but correct me if I'm wrong, here. It appears to be raining crows."
As expected wildlife people are working on finding some reason for them to do so. Maybe they all spotted the same piece of road kill and miscalculated its mass appeal. I mean, it's as good a reason as any but I digress.
The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission who is in charge of these things, commented that dead black bird reports started filtering in at 11:30 p.m. over a one mile area. An aerial survey indicated that no other dead birds were found in that area. This makes sense since any birds spotting falling or already dead crows would stay out of the area.
Ornithologist Karen Rowe said the birds showed physical trauma, and she speculated that "the flock could have been hit by lightning or high-altitude hail."
Another theory floating around is that New Year's Eve revelers shooting off fireworks in the area could have startled the birds from their roost and caused them to die from stress.
Wildlife officer, Robby King, collected approximately 65 dead birds that will be sent for testing to the state Livestock and Poultry Commission lab and the National Wildlife Health Center lab in Madison, Wis. In the end and according to Ms Rowe, she believes the tests will be 'inconclusive' and doubted that the birds were poisoned.
There's a very simple explanation. Aliens. The same one's that made those intricate corn field designs. Merely a simple case of flying in the wrong direction. This is a Stephen King novel waiting to be written. Wait a minute - hasn't he written a book about this?
For those so inclined, here is a link showing a photo of one of the deceased:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40874105/ns/us_news-environment/
Seems that in excess of 1,000 - wait for it - black birds suddenly and without any prior warning, dropped out of the night sky. Imagine being out on an evening stroll and suddenly being beaned by a blackbird (say that a dozen times fast).
"Excuse me (insert name of person accompanying you on a walk) blank-blank. I know that it rains cats and dogs on occasion but correct me if I'm wrong, here. It appears to be raining crows."
As expected wildlife people are working on finding some reason for them to do so. Maybe they all spotted the same piece of road kill and miscalculated its mass appeal. I mean, it's as good a reason as any but I digress.
The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission who is in charge of these things, commented that dead black bird reports started filtering in at 11:30 p.m. over a one mile area. An aerial survey indicated that no other dead birds were found in that area. This makes sense since any birds spotting falling or already dead crows would stay out of the area.
Ornithologist Karen Rowe said the birds showed physical trauma, and she speculated that "the flock could have been hit by lightning or high-altitude hail."
Another theory floating around is that New Year's Eve revelers shooting off fireworks in the area could have startled the birds from their roost and caused them to die from stress.
Wildlife officer, Robby King, collected approximately 65 dead birds that will be sent for testing to the state Livestock and Poultry Commission lab and the National Wildlife Health Center lab in Madison, Wis. In the end and according to Ms Rowe, she believes the tests will be 'inconclusive' and doubted that the birds were poisoned.
There's a very simple explanation. Aliens. The same one's that made those intricate corn field designs. Merely a simple case of flying in the wrong direction. This is a Stephen King novel waiting to be written. Wait a minute - hasn't he written a book about this?
For those so inclined, here is a link showing a photo of one of the deceased:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40874105/ns/us_news-environment/
Sunday, June 08, 2008
Here a rabbit...there a groundhog - garden pests dealt with severely by gardeners
Gardeners as a rule are a protective lot, especially when it comes to the fruit of their labor so to speak. There are some who sow crops of carrots, lettuce, cukes, tomatoes etc. in their backyard suburban garden, anticipating a fresh salad al fresco. However, not only do humans enjoy freshly picked veggies - so do all the local wildlife and therein lies the problem. It's a case of the humans versus the wildlife with a not-so-happy end result in some cases.
Take the article in the New York Times http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/05/garden/05animals.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
with some gardeners finding a solution by taking things into their own hands. There are those who take more drastic measures using guns and other weapons to solve the problem. Here is the opening of the story:
THE homeowner, a city-boy artist and illustrator who had moved to rural Pennsylvania, never wanted to kill the woodchucks. Sure, they were ruining the garden and digging up the foundations of outbuildings, but it was a moral issue: the artist, who is still so uncomfortable about what transpired — and so concerned about how his New York clients would feel about it that he is not willing to be identified — did not want to take a life.
"I posted a sign in the backyard (positioned close to ground level) with a recipe for rabbit pie. I think the bunnies got the message."CE, Plano, TX
Given the size of the property — a 12-acre former horse farm — fencing was out of the question. He bought a Havahart live animal trap but did not catch a thing. And he worried that releasing woodchucks down the road would only be dumping the problem on a neighbor. So he moved on to that tried-and-true landlord’s tactic: harassment. He attached a hose to the exhaust pipe of his old pickup truck and stuffed it into a burrow — not to kill the woodchucks, just to encourage them to move on. That didn’t work, either.
Finally, the artist decided he would have to shoot the animals. First, though, he went to each hole and made an announcement.
“I said: ‘I intend to kill you. You have 24 hours to get out,’ ” he recalls. “I wanted to give them fair warning. I said, ‘If I were you, I would find another place to live.’ I also promised them I would not take a shot unless I knew it would be fatal.”
He is making this into a funny story, he says, but when he killed his first woodchuck he “literally felt sick.”
“I went outside and knelt down to it and said a little prayer to whatever the powers that be that when my turn comes, I will do it as gracefully and uncomplainingly.”
Eventually, though, he embraced his mission, and grew so obsessed with it that an aunt began to call him Woodchuck Johnny. How many did he kill that summer?
“I stopped at 19,” he says. “One was a suicide. It realized its days were numbered and ran in front of a car.”
There are a lot more stories about how plain ordinary, "normal" gardeners like you or me, handled the situation. As an aside 325 gardeners , some who agree with garden guerilla tactics and many others shocked, who let their feelings be known with e-letters to the editor of the New York Times.
Read the entire story and decide for yourself.
Take the article in the New York Times http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/05/garden/05animals.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
with some gardeners finding a solution by taking things into their own hands. There are those who take more drastic measures using guns and other weapons to solve the problem. Here is the opening of the story:
THE homeowner, a city-boy artist and illustrator who had moved to rural Pennsylvania, never wanted to kill the woodchucks. Sure, they were ruining the garden and digging up the foundations of outbuildings, but it was a moral issue: the artist, who is still so uncomfortable about what transpired — and so concerned about how his New York clients would feel about it that he is not willing to be identified — did not want to take a life.
"I posted a sign in the backyard (positioned close to ground level) with a recipe for rabbit pie. I think the bunnies got the message."CE, Plano, TX
Given the size of the property — a 12-acre former horse farm — fencing was out of the question. He bought a Havahart live animal trap but did not catch a thing. And he worried that releasing woodchucks down the road would only be dumping the problem on a neighbor. So he moved on to that tried-and-true landlord’s tactic: harassment. He attached a hose to the exhaust pipe of his old pickup truck and stuffed it into a burrow — not to kill the woodchucks, just to encourage them to move on. That didn’t work, either.
Finally, the artist decided he would have to shoot the animals. First, though, he went to each hole and made an announcement.
“I said: ‘I intend to kill you. You have 24 hours to get out,’ ” he recalls. “I wanted to give them fair warning. I said, ‘If I were you, I would find another place to live.’ I also promised them I would not take a shot unless I knew it would be fatal.”
He is making this into a funny story, he says, but when he killed his first woodchuck he “literally felt sick.”
“I went outside and knelt down to it and said a little prayer to whatever the powers that be that when my turn comes, I will do it as gracefully and uncomplainingly.”
Eventually, though, he embraced his mission, and grew so obsessed with it that an aunt began to call him Woodchuck Johnny. How many did he kill that summer?
“I stopped at 19,” he says. “One was a suicide. It realized its days were numbered and ran in front of a car.”
There are a lot more stories about how plain ordinary, "normal" gardeners like you or me, handled the situation. As an aside 325 gardeners , some who agree with garden guerilla tactics and many others shocked, who let their feelings be known with e-letters to the editor of the New York Times.
Read the entire story and decide for yourself.
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