Weird Stuff/Unexplained
See other Weird Stuff/Unexplained Articles
Title: Mass Death of Seabirds in Western U.S. Is 'Unprecedented'
Source:
National Geographic
URL Source: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/ ... alifornia-animals-environment/
Published: Jan 24, 2015
Author: Craig Welch
Post Date: 2015-01-24 11:18:37 by Willie Green
Keywords: None
Views: 26964
Comments: 86
Why are so many auklets, from California to Canada, starving? In the storm debris littering a Washington State shoreline, Bonnie Wood saw something grisly: the mangled bodies of dozens of scraggly young seabirds. Walking half a mile along the beach at Twin Harbors State Park on Wednesday, Wood spotted more than 130 carcasses of juvenile Cassin's auklets—the blue-footed, palm-size victims of what is becoming one of the largest mass die-offs of seabirds ever recorded. "It was so distressing," recalled Wood, a volunteer who patrols Pacific Northwest beaches looking for dead or stranded birds. "They were just everywhere. Every ten yards we'd find another ten bodies of these sweet little things." Cassin's auklets are tiny diving seabirds that look like puffballs. They feed on animal plankton and build their nests by burrowing in the dirt on offshore islands. Their total population, from the Baja Peninsula to Alaska's Aleutian Islands, is estimated at somewhere between 1 million and 3.5 million. Last year, beginning about Halloween, thousands of juvenile auklets started washing ashore dead from California's Farallon Islands to Haida Gwaii (also known as the Queen Charlotte Islands) off central British Columbia. Since then the deaths haven't stopped. Researchers are wondering if the die-off might spread to other birds or even fish. "This is just massive, massive, unprecedented," said Julia Parrish, a University of Washington seabird ecologist who oversees the Coastal Observation and Seabird Survey Team (COASST), a program that has tracked West Coast seabird deaths for almost 20 years. "We may be talking about 50,000 to 100,000 deaths. So far." One Die-Off Among Many The gruesome auklet deaths come just as scientists around the globe are seeing a significant uptick in mass-mortality events in the marine world, from sea urchins to fish and birds. Although there doesn't appear to be a link to the virus that killed tens of millions of sea stars along the same shores from California to Alaska over the past 18 months, some scientists suspect a factor in both cases may be uncharacteristically warm waters. The U.S. Geological Survey and others have performed animal autopsies, called necropsies, on several of the emaciated Cassin's auklets. They've found no evidence of disease or trauma—no viruses or bacteria, no feathers coated with spilled oil. The birds appear simply to have starved to death. "There's very little evidence of food in their GI [gastrointestinal] tracts or stomachs," said Anne Ballmann, with USGS's National Wildlife Health Center. Poster Comment: Global Warming / Climate Change
Post Comment Private Reply Ignore Thread
Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest
Begin Trace Mode for Comment # 53.
#2. To: Willie Green (#0)
Lol...you STILL believe global warming is real? Hahaha!!!!
The Senate Says Climate Change Is Real with only 1 numbskull voting against it, so by-gosh & by-golly, I suppose that means it's officially true.
The Senate Says Climate Change Is Real with only 1 numbskull voting against it, so by-gosh & by-golly, I suppose that means it's officially true. --- Willie Green "Officially true." Great weasel words, Willy. I would bet that a super majority of those senators (if politically pressed) would NOT agree that climate change was being affected to any great extent by mankind.
And even if they DO agree that climate change is affected by mankind's activities, that doesn't mean that they can do anything to prevent the trend. The change is happening, no matter what the cause and there's nothing they can do to stop it. But there are steps that can be taken to protect our coastal properties from being damaged by rising water from the melting icecaps.
The change is happening, no matter what the cause and there's nothing they can do to stop it. But there are steps that can be taken to protect our coastal properties from being damaged by rising water from the melting icecaps. What steps are those? Lemme guess, sticking it to the middle class of America? BTW, most of the pollution in the world comes from the third world and China, yet all the left cares about is crippling what little incentive the average American has left, and sucking away the hard earned money they have.
I want you to support your hypothesis with facts so I can see your perspective with some objective certainty. Perhaps you can find the time to research your considerations and prepare (at least) some supporting material as opposed to mere hear-say. All of your claims are easily disputed:
China has been the worlds leading polluter since 2008 according to a UN report. And since everybody seems to be outsourcing all their jobs to China it will only get worse.
Are you capable of linking your referenced report? What nations buy Chinese manufactured products? When any nation buys a product (such as the USA performs) aren't they appealing to low costs, high quality and fast delivery? So, isn't the "buy-in" of cheap products also built upon the lack of responsibility of the purchasers?
Are you capable of Googling the UN report?
I want you to offer your exact or specific report as opposed to some obsure reference. Is this simple request possible?
I don't play that game. It's called "Edjamacate Thyself".
I have no reference to your comment.
Oh well.
No facts, no data, no presentation, no support what-so-ever other than hearsay, conjecture, borrowed commentary and obscure, hand-me-down discussions that have impressed you towards an opinion, 'eh? Don't you feel as though you are standing naked in a crowd?
No facts? How about ones own eyes? Only an 'educated' person could be as dense as you.
I am curious about your departure from my earlier request. Is there a reason you can not or will not support your earlier opinions beyond mere hear-say?
Only an idiot would call ones own eyes hearsay, Piss off ant.
So, you can not or are unble to support your own opinions? Is that the reason for silly rants, as above?
I have, you dont like it? Too bad. Do you deny the existence of mass amounts of smog in places i listed? You are a special sort of flower to keep posting on this thread.
He fancies himself a
There are no replies to Comment # 53. End Trace Mode for Comment # 53.
Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest
#3. To: Dead Culture Watch (#2)
Lol...you STILL believe global warming is real?
#4. To: Willie Green, Y'ALL (#3)
Dead Culture Watch (#2) --- Lol...you STILL believe global warming is real?
#7. To: tpaine (#4)
I would bet that a super majority of those senators (if politically pressed) would NOT agree that climate change was being affected to any great extent by mankind.
#10. To: Willie Green (#7)
(Edited)
And even if they DO agree that climate change is affected by mankind's activities, that doesn't mean that they can do anything to prevent the trend.
#12. To: Dead Culture Watch (#10)
BTW, most of the pollution in the world comes from the third world and China, yet all the left cares about is crippling what little incentive the average American has left, and sucking away the hard earned money they have.
1) most of the pollution in the world comes from the third world and China;
Since you advanced your hypothesis first, I shall wait for your further discussion before I offer credible evidence to the contrary.
2) all the left cares about is crippling what little incentive the average American has left;
3) and sucking away the hard earned money they have
#17. To: Pridie.Nones, Dead Culture Watch (#12)
most of the pollution in the world comes from the third world and China;
#21. To: CZ82 (#17)
China has been the worlds leading polluter since 2008 according to a UN report. And since everybody seems to be outsourcing all their jobs to China it will only get worse.
#22. To: Pridie.Nones (#21)
#23. To: CZ82 (#22)
#24. To: Pridie.Nones (#23)
#26. To: CZ82 (#24)
#27. To: Pridie.Nones (#26)
#28. To: CZ82, Dead Culture Watch (#27)
Oh well.
#38. To: Pridie.Nones (#28)
Oh well. No facts, no data, no presentation, no support what-so-ever other than hearsay, conjecture, borrowed commentary and obscure, hand-me-down discussions that have impressed you towards an opinion, 'eh?
#42. To: Dead Culture Watch (#38)
Only an 'educated' person could be as dense as you.
#44. To: Pridie.Nones (#42)
#48. To: Dead Culture Watch (#44)
Piss off ant.
#52. To: Pridie.Nones (#48)
So, you can not or are unble to support your own opinions? Is that the reason for silly rants, as above?
#53. To: Dead Culture Watch (#52)
You are a special sort of flower to keep posting on this thread.
Replies to Comment # 53.
[Home] [Headlines] [Latest Articles] [Latest Comments] [Post] [Mail] [Sign-in] [Setup] [Help] [Register]