Thread: Have you heard about all those dead birds in Ark.?

Mass fish death fouls California marina
Robert Jablon, Associated Press – 11 mins ago

REDONDO BEACH, Calif. – An estimated 1 million fish turned up dead Tuesday in a Southern California marina, creating a floating feast for pelicans, gulls and other sea life and a stinky mess for harbor authorities.

Boaters awakened to find a carpet of small silvery fish surrounding their vessels, said Staci Gabrielli, marine coordinator for King Harbor Marina on the Los Angeles County coast. Authorities said there was also a 12- to 18-inch layer of dead fish on the bottom of the marina.

California Fish and Game officials said the fish were sardines that apparently depleted the water of oxygen and suffocated.

"All indications are it's a naturally occurring event," said Andrew Hughan, a Fish and Game spokesman at the scene. The die-off was unusual but not unprecedented, he said. "In the world of fishing this is an afternoon's catch," he noted.

Nonetheless, the scale was impressive to locals at King Harbor, which shelters about 1,400 boats on south Santa Monica Bay. "The fishermen say they've never seen anything this bad that wasn't red tide," Hughan said, referring to the natural blooms of toxic algae that can kill fish.

Hughan said water samples showed no oils or chemicals that could have contributed to the deaths. He said some of the fish were being shipped to a Fish and Game laboratory for study but the cause was likely to be uncomplicated.

The fish appeared to have come into the marina during the night and probably couldn't find their way out, he said. "The simplest explanation is the fish got lost. ... They get confused easily," he said. Hughan said there was no safety issue at all but "it's going to smell bad for quite a while."

Fire Department, Harbor Patrol and other city workers set to work scooping up fish in nets and buckets. A skip loader then carried them to big trash bins. Local officials initially estimated there were millions of fish, but Fish and Game roughly estimated about 1 million.

City officials estimated the cleanup would cost $100,000. Fire Chief Dan Madrigal said the fish would be taken to a landfill specializing in organic materials.

On the water, nature was tackling the problem in other ways. "The seals are gorging themselves," Hughan said. Large groups of other fish could be seen nibbling at the floating mats of dead creatures. "The sea's going to recycle everything. It's the whole circle-of-life thing," Hughan said.

Although the Fish and Game authorities were focusing on the idea that the sardines simply got confused, other theories abounded.

Hughan noted that some fishermen reported waves were coming over the harbor breakwaters during the night. That washes bird excrement off the rocks and into the marina and can cause the water to be depleted of oxygen.

Gabrielli, the marina employee, said the fish appeared to have moved into the harbor to escape a red tide, then possibly became trapped due to high winds overnight.

Ed Parnell, a marine ecologist at Scripps Institution of Oceanography called Gabrielli's theory plausible, although generally he would expect that the wind would have mixed oxygen into the water. Parnell said these types of fish kills are more typically seen in the Gulf of Mexico or the Salton Sea, the enormous desert lake in southeastern California where millions of fish die with some regularity.

Brent Scheiwe, an official of Sea Lab, a Los Angeles Conservation Corps research program at Redondo, said the fish may have gotten trapped in the 30-foot deep marina while sheltering from rough seas overnight. "They like to follow each other, so it only takes a few" to create a mass migration, he said. "Over time they will find their way out, but if it's rough out there they probably stayed in shelter," he said.

Redondo Beach police Sgt. Phil Keenan said he believed a predator fish chased the sardines into the marina where their sheer numbers caused them to suffocate.

Raphael Kudela, a professor of ocean sciences at University of California, Santa Cruz, called it "unusual but not uncommon."

Kudela said sardines are not the brightest fish. "They are that dumb actually," he said. "It's possible they were avoiding a red tide or a predator forced them into shallow water. They get into shallow water and then can't figure out how to get back out and you've got such a concentration in one small area they literally pull the oxygen down until they suffocate."

Carl Johnson, 59, and his wife, Marie, 57, came from nearby Torrance to see the fish calamity. "We've had that stuff of the hundreds of birds dying in the Midwest and now this. ... You do think about life and death," he said. "These fish were swimming freely yesterday," he said philosophically. Marie Johnson added: "It's sad. It's really sad."

Mass fish death fouls California marina
Robert Jablon, Associated Press – 11 mins ago

REDONDO BEACH, Calif. – An estimated 1 million fish turned up dead Tuesday in a Southern California marina, creating a floating feast for pelicans, gulls and other sea life and a stinky mess for harbor authorities.

Boaters awakened to find a carpet of small silvery fish surrounding their vessels, said Staci Gabrielli, marine coordinator for King Harbor Marina on the Los Angeles County coast. Authorities said there was also a 12- to 18-inch layer of dead fish on the bottom of the marina.

California Fish and Game officials said the fish were sardines that apparently depleted the water of oxygen and suffocated.

"All indications are it's a naturally occurring event," said Andrew Hughan, a Fish and Game spokesman at the scene. The die-off was unusual but not unprecedented, he said. "In the world of fishing this is an afternoon's catch," he noted.

Nonetheless, the scale was impressive to locals at King Harbor, which shelters about 1,400 boats on south Santa Monica Bay. "The fishermen say they've never seen anything this bad that wasn't red tide," Hughan said, referring to the natural blooms of toxic algae that can kill fish.

Hughan said water samples showed no oils or chemicals that could have contributed to the deaths. He said some of the fish were being shipped to a Fish and Game laboratory for study but the cause was likely to be uncomplicated.

The fish appeared to have come into the marina during the night and probably couldn't find their way out, he said. "The simplest explanation is the fish got lost. ... They get confused easily," he said. Hughan said there was no safety issue at all but "it's going to smell bad for quite a while."

Fire Department, Harbor Patrol and other city workers set to work scooping up fish in nets and buckets. A skip loader then carried them to big trash bins. Local officials initially estimated there were millions of fish, but Fish and Game roughly estimated about 1 million.

City officials estimated the cleanup would cost $100,000. Fire Chief Dan Madrigal said the fish would be taken to a landfill specializing in organic materials.

On the water, nature was tackling the problem in other ways. "The seals are gorging themselves," Hughan said. Large groups of other fish could be seen nibbling at the floating mats of dead creatures. "The sea's going to recycle everything. It's the whole circle-of-life thing," Hughan said.

Although the Fish and Game authorities were focusing on the idea that the sardines simply got confused, other theories abounded.

Hughan noted that some fishermen reported waves were coming over the harbor breakwaters during the night. That washes bird excrement off the rocks and into the marina and can cause the water to be depleted of oxygen.

Gabrielli, the marina employee, said the fish appeared to have moved into the harbor to escape a red tide, then possibly became trapped due to high winds overnight.

Ed Parnell, a marine ecologist at Scripps Institution of Oceanography called Gabrielli's theory plausible, although generally he would expect that the wind would have mixed oxygen into the water. Parnell said these types of fish kills are more typically seen in the Gulf of Mexico or the Salton Sea, the enormous desert lake in southeastern California where millions of fish die with some regularity.

Brent Scheiwe, an official of Sea Lab, a Los Angeles Conservation Corps research program at Redondo, said the fish may have gotten trapped in the 30-foot deep marina while sheltering from rough seas overnight. "They like to follow each other, so it only takes a few" to create a mass migration, he said. "Over time they will find their way out, but if it's rough out there they probably stayed in shelter," he said.

Redondo Beach police Sgt. Phil Keenan said he believed a predator fish chased the sardines into the marina where their sheer numbers caused them to suffocate.

Raphael Kudela, a professor of ocean sciences at University of California, Santa Cruz, called it "unusual but not uncommon."

Kudela said sardines are not the brightest fish. "They are that dumb actually," he said. "It's possible they were avoiding a red tide or a predator forced them into shallow water. They get into shallow water and then can't figure out how to get back out and you've got such a concentration in one small area they literally pull the oxygen down until they suffocate."

Carl Johnson, 59, and his wife, Marie, 57, came from nearby Torrance to see the fish calamity. "We've had that stuff of the hundreds of birds dying in the Midwest and now this. ... You do think about life and death," he said. "These fish were swimming freely yesterday," he said philosophically. Marie Johnson added: "It's sad. It's really sad."

Toxin found in sardines that clogged US marina
Sat Mar 12, 2:17 am ET

LOS ANGELES – The millions of sardines that were found floating dead in a Southern California marina this week tested positive for a powerful neurotoxin, researchers said Friday.

High levels of domoic acid were found in the sardines, which may have distressed them off the Los Angeles coastline and caused them to swim into the Redondo Beach marina, University of Southern California biologist David Caron wrote in a summary of his laboratory's findings which were reported by the Los Angeles Times.

Caron said that he still believes that critically low oxygen levels in the water caused the sardines to suffocate, but it's possible the toxin may have been one explanation for why they crowded into the marina.

The California Department of Fish and Game has blamed the die-off on oxygen deprivation and is also testing fish for toxins at its animal forensics laboratory. Results are not expected until next week.

Domoic acid is often found in the stomach of fish that have been feeding on plankton during toxic algae blooms. The toxin has been linked to neurological disorders, illnesses and deaths in seabirds, sea lions, sea otters and whales.

Caron's lab is working to determine if the poisoning was caused by a toxic algae bloom spotted off Redondo Beach on Wednesday.

The presence of the toxin in the sardines could lead to health complications for pelicans, gulls and other sea life that have been feasting on the dead fish.

"There were tons of birds feeding on these fish and it's conceivable that we'll see some bird mortality as a result," Caron said.

The fish died late Monday and carpeted the water's surface the next morning, stacking up to 2 feet deep in some places. Crews have already scooped and hauled away more than 85 tons of fish to a composting center where they will turn into fertilizer.


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110312/...luZm91bmRpbg--

What happens to the Domoic acid after it becomes compost? What about the plants that grow in that compost? What about the animals that eat those plants?

---

Hmmm. Fish die off in massive numbers because they ate deadly doses of neurotoxins (poison to the brain and nervous system, including our own) so we're going to turn them into fertilizer, which is used to grow people food. THAT's a good idea???

Originally Posted by Jolie Rouge

The fish died late Monday and carpeted the water's surface the next morning, stacking up to 2 feet deep in some places. Crews have already scooped and hauled away more than 85 tons of fish to a composting center where they will turn into fertilizer.


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110312/...luZm91bmRpbg--

What happens to the Domoic acid after it becomes compost? What about the plants that grow in that compost? What about the animals that eat those plants?

---

Hmmm. Fish die off in massive numbers because they ate deadly doses of neurotoxins (poison to the brain and nervous system, including our own) so we're going to turn them into fertilizer, which is used to grow people food. THAT's a good idea???

The presence of the toxin in the sardines could lead to health complications for pelicans, gulls and other sea life that have been feasting on the dead fish. "There were tons of birds feeding on these fish and it's conceivable that we'll see some bird mortality as a result," Caron said.

factor this in as well...

They'll probably incorporate some tainted sardines into chicken feed too

Is The New Madrid Fault Earthquake Zone Coming To Life?
January 11, 2011



What in the world is happening in the middle of the United States right now? Thousands of birds are falling dead from the skies, tens of thousands of fish are washing up on shore dead, earthquakes are popping up in weird and unexpected places and people are starting to get really freaked out about all of this. Well, one theory is that the New Madrid fault zone is coming to life. The New Madrid fault zone is six times bigger than the San Andreas fault zone in California and it covers portions of Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, Arkansas, Kentucky, Tennessee and Mississippi. The biggest earthquakes in the history of the United States were caused by the New Madrid fault. Now there are fears that the New Madrid fault zone could be coming to life again, and if a "killer earthquake" does strike it could change all of our lives forever.

So exactly what events have happened recently that are causing people to take a close look at the New Madrid fault zone? Well, just consider the following examples of things that have been popping up in the news lately....

*According to the U.S. Geological Survey, more than 500 measurable earthquakes have been recorded in central Arkansas just since September.

*A magnitude-3.8 earthquake that shook north-central Indiana on December 30th is being called "unprecedented". It was strong enough to actually cause cracks along the ground and it was felt in portions of Ohio, Illinois, Wisconsin and Kentucky.

*More than 3,000 red-wing blackbirds fell out of the sky dead in the Arkansas town of Beebe on New Year's Eve.

*Large numbers of dead birds were also found in Kentucky right around Christmas.

*Approximately 500 dead blackbirds and starlings were also recently discovered in Pointe Coupee Parish, Louisiana.

*Approximately 100,000 fish washed up dead on the shores of the Arkansas River just last week.

So could all of these things have some other very simple explanation?

Possibly.

But the fact that they all happened in or around the New Madrid fault zone is starting to raise some eyebrows.

About 200 years ago, in 1811 and 1812, there were four earthquakes that were so powerful in the area of the New Madrid fault zone that they are still talked about today. All four of the quakes were estimated to have been magnitude-7.0 or greater. It is said that those earthquakes opened deep fissures in the ground, caused the Mississippi River to run backwards and that they were felt as far away as Boston.

The last major earthquake to hit the region was a 5.4-magnitude quake that struck the town of Dale, Illinois in 1968. Things have been strangely quiet in the region since then until recently. If a true "killer earthquake" struck along the New Madrid fault zone today, cities such as St. Louis, Missouri and Memphis, Tennessee could potentially be completely destroyed.

Unfortunately, this is not an exaggeration.

The following video describes just how incredibly powerful the earthquakes along the New Madrid fault in 1811 and 1812 actually were....

Rumblings of Imminence: The New Madrid Seismic Zone

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7wVYS...layer_embedded

So could such a thing happen today?

Well, that is exactly what many seismologists now fear. The following video news report from ABC News explains why so many scientists are so concerned about the New Madrid fault zone....

Earthquake Fault Lines in America - ABC News
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0tVb...layer_embedded

One interesting theory is that the "oil volcano" unleashed by the BP oil spill in 2010 may have sparked renewed seismic activity in that part of the world.

Jack M. Reed, a retired Texaco geologist-geophysicist, has been carefully studying the geology of the Gulf of Mexico for over 40 years. Reed is convinced that the Gulf of Mexico is currently tectonically active, and that the Gulf of Mexico is the source for most seismic activity along the New Madrid fault.

According to Reed, there is substantial evidence that the New Madrid fault zone is directly connected to "deeply buried tectonics" in the Gulf of Mexico.... http://www.aapg.org/explorer/2002/11nov/rift_zone.cfm

"This entire zone through the United States is suffering some type of tectonic activity that I believe is tied to the deeply buried tectonics in the Gulf of Mexico."

So did BP disturb those "deeply buried tectonics" by drilling such a deep well and unleashing all that oil that flowed into the Gulf of Mexico?

Let's hope not.

If a truly historic earthquake did strike along the New Madrid fault the amount of damage that could be done to surrounding states such as Illinois, Kentucky, Mississippi, Indiana, Alabama, Missouri, Arkansas and Tennessee could potentially be unimaginable.

Jeremy Heidt of the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency says that life in the region would be instantly transformed in the event of a major earthquake along the New Madrid fault.... http://www.standeyo.com/NEWS/10_Eart...d.worries.html

"All communications would be out. All air travel would be out as the FAA air control would go down. All rail travel would fail. Ports would shut down; oil and natural gas pipelines could be off line."

According to a recent study by the University of Illinois, a 7.7-magnitude earthquake along the New Madrid fault would leave 3,500 people dead, more than 80,000 injured and more than 7 million homeless.

So what would happen if an 8.0 earthquake struck?

Or an 8.5?

Or a 9.0?

Remember, an 8.7-magnitude earthquake would be ten times worse than a 7.7-magnitude earthquake.

There are even some who believe that if a powerful enough earthquake hit the New Madrid fault someday it could potentially alter the surrounding geography enough that it could actually create a new major body of water in the middle of the United States.

So, no, it is not just California that needs to worry about "the Big One".

Right now seismic activity has been dramatically increasing all over the globe. Just think of the unprecedented number of volcanic eruptions that we have seen over the past year. Major earthquakes have been popping up all along the "Ring of Fire". Just over the past couple of days a magnitude-7.1 earthquake hit central Chile and a magnitude-7.0 earthquake struck northern Argentina.

So to think that "it can't happen" in the United States is just being totally naive.

Let us hope and pray that a devastating earthquake does not hit the New Madrid fault any time soon, because such an event could completely wipe out our economy. The U.S. economy is already teetering on the brink of disaster, and all it would take is one major blow to bring the entire house of cards crashing down.

Just remember what happened in Haiti. A magnitude-7.0 earthquake killed 230,000 people and caused such horrific devastation that it is still hard to even try to put it into words. Let us hope and pray that nothing like that happens in any U.S. city any time soon.




http://endoftheamericandream.com/arc...coming-to-life

Originally Posted by jasmine

They say 3,000 birds died, in a community of 5,000. That's crazy that fireworks would do that!



http://www.aolnews.com/2011/01/04/fi...-into-a-tizzy/

Fireworks May Have Sent Ark. Birds Into a Tizzy

BEEBE, Ark. -- Celebratory fireworks likely sent thousands of discombobulated blackbirds into such a tizzy that they crashed into homes, cars and each other before plummeting to their deaths in central Arkansas, scientists say. Still, officials acknowledge it's unlikely they'll ever pinpoint a cause with certainty.

So for the small town of Beebe, Ark., where New Year's revelers spent the holiday weekend cleaning up more than 3,000 dead red-winged blackbirds, The Mystery of Why the Birds Fell Out of the Sky remains unsolved.

Some speculated Monday that a bout of bad weather was to blame. Others said one confused bird could have led the group in a fatal plunge. A few spooked schoolkids even guessed that the birds had committed mass suicide.

Danny Johnston, AP
Assistant State Veterinarian Dr. Brandon Doss examines dead red-winged blackbirds at the Arkansas Livestock and Poultry Commission Diagnostic Laboratory in Little Rock, Ark.


"There was probably some physical reason, but I doubt anyone will ever know what it was," said Thurman Booth, the state's wildlife services director.
*snip*

On the news they just had a blip about Alfred Hitchcock's "The Bird's". Apparently that film was based on a similar incident that happened in 1961. The birds were thought to eat some natural occurring discombobulating plankton or something causing them to "freak out".

Here's a reference.... http://www.santacruzpl.org/history/articles/183/

Santa Cruz County History - Unusual & Curious

Birds "Invade" Santa Cruz, California
by Santa Cruz Sentinel and
by Wally Trabing

The film, "The Birds", was directed by Alfred Hitchcock and was based on the story of the same name by Daphne du Maurier. The film was released in 1963. Two years earlier, a real life "invasion" of birds occurred in Santa Cruz. The event was reported in the Santa Cruz Sentinel on August 18, 1961. Mr. Hitchcock asked the Santa Cruz Sentinel for a copy of the story, as reported in the Santa Cruz Sentinel on August 21, 1961. Excerpts from both stories are reproduced here with permission.

Santa Cruz Sentinel, August 18, 1961; page 1:

Seabird Invasion Hits Coastal Homes;
Thousands of Birds Floundering in Streets,
by Wally Trabing

"A massive flight of sooty shearwaters, fresh from a feast of anchovies, collided with shoreside structures from Pleasure Point to Rio del Mar during the night.

Residents, especially in the Pleasure Point and Capitola area were awakened about 3 a.m. today by the rain of birds, slamming against their homes.

Dead, and stunned seabirds littered the streets and roads in the foggy, early dawn. Startled by the invasion, residents rushed out on their lawns with flashlights, then rushed back inside, as the birds flew toward their light.
. . .

When the light of day made the area visible, residents found the streets covered with birds. The birds disgorged bits of fish and fish skeletons over the streets and lawns and housetops, leaving an overpowering fishy stench.
. . .

The most learned explanation of the bird tragedy came this morning from Ward Russell, museum zoologist at the University of California.

He said the shearwaters generally live in the southern hemisphere. As far as they are concerned this is their winter flocking area.

Often when they are disturbed while feeding they will rise in flocks from the water. A blinding fog covered the coast last night and this morning.

"They probably became confused and lost and headed for the light," he said. The only light available was the street lights and overnight lights in some homes and businesses.
. . .

Russell said that this is a fairly rare phenomena and it takes certain atmospheric conditions to cause this confusion. He said that during very foggy conditions the lighthouses along the coast are struck by the thousands of seabirds."

Santa Cruz Sentinel, August 21, 1961; page 4:

Alfred Hitchcock Using Sentinel's Seabird Story
"Hollywood mystery producer Alfred Hitchcock phoned The Sentinel Saturday to let us know he is using last Friday's edition as research material for his latest thriller.

Hitchcock, who owns a home in the hills near Scotts Valley, had phoned from Hollywood early Friday morning and requested a copy of the paper be mailed to him there.

It seems Hitchcock is now preparing to film Daphne DuMaurier's 10-year-old novel, "The Birds," which ironically deals with the invasion of a small town by millions of birds."

Interesting. Sounds familiar.

And no one thought of that over the past year ....

The return of Arkansas' mass bird deaths
By The Week's Editorial Staff | The Week – 12 hrs ago

Ominously, scores of blackbirds once again fell from the sky above a small southern town on New Year's Eve. But this time, intentional mischief may be to blame

Here we go again? Last New Year's Eve, some 5,000 blackbirds dropped from the sky in Beebe, Ark., a small town about 35 miles from Little Rock. The subsequent media frenzy fueled plenty of dire apocalyptic theories. This weekend, the New Year once again brought scores of dead blackbirds to Beebe. Here, a concise guide to the seemingly eerie coincidence:

Why did the birds die last year?

The conventional wisdom says: Fireworks. The celebratory explosions unexpectedly caused the birds to become disoriented and "fly all over the place," according to Arkansas officials. Birds slammed into buildings, telephone poles, and trees, according to state officials.

Why were blackbirds specifically afflicted?

They were in the wrong place at the wrong time. Beebe is home to a large roost of blackbirds. The birds, who don't usually fly at night, have poor vision in the dark. That makes them particularly vulnerable to mishaps after being unnerved by fireworks.

And this year?

Fireworks were again involved, but this year's spooking seems to have been premeditated. Officials say the roughly 200 dead birds appear to have been the victims of an intentional crime. "We know that there was evidence of fireworks set off in the middle of the roost, and it wasn't a coincidence," reads an Arkansas Game and Fish Commission statement. Indeed, says one resident. "We started hearing the fireworks going off, and some gun shots going off in the air, and it really seemed like people were trying to recreate last year's New Year's."

Does everyone buy that explanation?

No. Plenty of people are doggedly interpreting this year's incident as yet another sign of the apocalypse. Indiana pastor Paul Begley, for one, remains convinced that the bird deaths prove God is fulfilling the Hosea prophecy, in which humanity is punished for its many sins. "It's time to listen to the word of the Lord," he says.

http://news.yahoo.com/return-arkansa...162800210.html

not as many dead blackbirds in Ark. town this year
Associated PressAP – Sun, Jan 1, 2012

BEEBE, Ark. (AP) — Authorities in a central Arkansas town say about 100 blackbirds died on New Year's Eve after being spooked by fireworks, far less than the thousands that perished there a year ago.

Beebe police Lt. Brian Duke said Sunday that officials asked local residents who were celebrating the year's end to stop setting off fireworks after blackbirds again started flying into objects and each other.

The state Game and Fish Commission says someone appears to have targeted a blackbird roost this year and that there was evidence of fireworks at the roost.

Large numbers of migrating blackbirds roost in the community northeast of Little Rock. Last year, fireworks were blamed after thousands of birds were rousted from their roosts and flew into homes, cars, telephone poles and each other.

http://news.yahoo.com/not-many-dead-...232816253.html