MidnightWatcher – Prophecy in Motion

“LAUREL, Md. (CBSDC) — A scene out of an Alfred Hitchcock movie played out in real life along Interstate 95 in Maryland on Wednesday.

About a hundred dead birds were scattered across a stretch of the highway in Laurel near exit 33, likely victims of an impact with a vehicle.

‘[European] Starlings are birds the fly around in pretty good size flocks,’ said David Hellmeyer of the Maryland Department of Natural Resources told All-News 99.1 WNEW.

Hellmeyer said it’s pretty uncommon, but not unheard of for that species to be struck by vehicles.

The mess caused heavy congestion just before the afternoon rush got underway around 3 p.m. Some drivers says the delays spanned miles.

State highway officials were able to respond and clean up the mess fairly quickly.

The birds have been collected for testing to confirm the trauma was the cause of death.” Source – CBSDC.

“Up to 800 birds have been found dead at wetlands in Christchurch’s eastern suburbs and the oxidation ponds.

The Christchurch City Council said yesterday that during the past few weeks dead birds have been found on the banks of the oxidation ponds in Bromley.

Dead birds have also been found in the Bexley area and the Travis Wetland.

Council ornithologist Andrew Crossland said between 600 and 800 dead birds had been found.

‘The earthquakes in Christchurch have caused a lot of changes to water quality but also to effluent levels at the oxidation ponds,’ he said.

‘It’s got nothing to do with anything physical such as liquefaction but more to do with the fluctuating water levels and changes like that.’

Investigations were underway but the initial diagnosis was avian botulism, a paralysing disease caused by a toxin which thrives in shallow, warm water.” Source – The Press.

By Manuel Vigo – “This week more than 200 dolphins were found dead along a 106-kilometer stretch at the beaches of Lambayeque.

Authorities have not yet been able to determine the cause of the deaths.

According to El Comercio, Edward Barriga, head of Peru’s Ocean Institute (Imarpe) in Lambayeque, ordered samples be sent to Lima, for further analysis.

‘Soon we will announce the root causes,’ Barriga said.

Barriga said he had also found considerable quantities of dead anchovies on the beaches between the district of San jose and Palo Parado, in Morrope.

Jorge Torres Cabrejos, head of the Lambayeque’s Association of Maritime Growers, said the dolphins might have eaten the dead anchovies, who had died from decomposing plankton, caused by heavy pollution.

According to El Comercio, Torres denied that local fisherman were to blame for the dolphins’ deaths.

Last month Imarpe investigated the death of several dolphins and sea lions in the beaches of Piura.

Local media said the deaths could have been the result of oil spills in the area.” Source – Peru This Week.

Here’s an update on this story, with no end in sight …

By Miguel Llanos – “More strandings are expected after 129 dolphins beached themselves on Cape Cod in the last three weeks, with 92 dying in ‘the single largest stranding’ of dolphins in the Northeast since at least 1999, the International Fund for Animal Welfare reported Monday.

On Sunday, four dolphins were stranded along Cape Cod’s hook-shaped peninsula and were quickly helped back to sea. The Massachusetts peninsula sees many dolphin strandings each year, but the 129 since Jan. 12 is typically about what rescuers see over an entire year, based on records that go back to 1999, IFAW marine mammal rescue manager Katie Moore told msnbc.com.

‘This event started on the 12th and is still continuing,’ she added at a press conference on Monday, noting that rescuers from IFAW and other stranding networks were deployed in ‘anticipation of more dolphins coming in.’

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which manages the rescue response, echoed the concern.

For common dolphins, the species that has been stranding in Cape Cod, ‘this is the largest, most protracted stranding event in recent decades,’ Teri Rowles, who coordinates NOAA’s Marine Mammal Health and Stranding Response Program, told msnbc.com.

Most of the dolphins have appeared to be in good health, adding to the mystery of why so many have come ashore. Common dolphins are known to strand in groups due to their tight social structure, but given the large numbers this year, other factors such as weather and tides are being investigated.” Read more.

RAPID CITY, S.D. (AP) – The South Dakota Game, Fish & Parks Department is investigating about 100 suspicious deaths in downtown Rapid City – and the victims are all pigeons.

John Kanta, regional wildlife manager for the department, tells the Associated Press that dozens of bird corpses have been recovered since Thursday afternoon. The deaths are mysterious enough that samples have been flown to a lab in Madison, Wis., in hopes of determining the cause.

Kanta says the birds could have been sickened by mold or bacteria, but officials suspect they were poisoned.

Kanta says officials are ‘worried about the incidental loss we might see with other animals’ – specifically peregrine falcons.” Read more.

“HENRICO, VA (WWBT) – State authorities are looking into why more than a thousand fish turned up dead in Henrico County. It happened in the Winchester Green subdivision, in the far west end.

It is quite the unpleasant sight, a fish kill, neighbors first discovered earlier in the week. Authorities came out to take a look, and they say more than 1,000 fish died here earlier in the week.

It’s a mystery, and it’s not pretty: all these dead fish, scattered over two ponds in an otherwise picturesque community.

Sandra register has lived here 22 years and she’s never seen anything like it.

‘We’ve never had everything die. I mean, everything is wiped out in here,’ she said.

The floating and decaying remains were first discovered Monday; including that of a large beaver, though it’s unclear if that’s related. All week, Sandra and others have been speculating as to what might have happened.

‘That someone had put something in the water,’ Sandra said.

Officials with the Department of Environmental Quality won’t confirm that. In fact, there’s little they can say for sure.

What’s clear is that it’s so upsetting to the children and adults who take great pride in what they used to be able to see, right outside their windows.

‘It’s important to me. I sit at my kitchen table and drink my coffee and watch the deer and occasionally get a glimpse of the fox running by. It’s very important to me,’ Sandra stated.

Whatever happened here to cause this, isn’t quite clear. But the DEQ continues to investigate. They say there is no risk to the public.

Neighbors say the water has yet to be tested, but there doesn’t appear to be any evidence of a chemical spill or illegal dumping.” Source – Fox19.

By Rachel Ramirez – “Moss Landing, Calif. -Sea shells and crabs are usually found along the shore, but in Moss Landing people say a different animal is stinking up the beach.

‘Last week, [There was] clear beach, clear skies, beautiful weather. Now what do I see? There are carcasses on the beach. Why?’ said Michael Kasclica, who lives in Watsonville and walks frequently at Moss Landing Harbor beach.

At the edge of Sandholdt Road in Moss Landing is a graveyard for a variety of rotting birds.

‘It’s despicable and it is definitely unusual,’ said Kasclica.

People walking along the beach said they found a half dozen birds on both sides of the beach and are alarmed by the sheer number and variety of dead birds.

Both the California Department of Fish and Game and the SPCA Wildlife Center came to check out the dead birds. The departments don’t know what killed them and called the scene out of the ordinary.

‘The concern is the amount of birds and the location where they’re at. It’s hard for them to wash a shore this high up,’ said Warden Sarah Weimer of the California Department of Fish and Game.

‘There are a lot of them. A necropsy will show if there are any gun wounds or any human infliction of injury. But otherwise, it looks like something else is going on,’ said Jessica Shipman, the interim SPCA Wildlife Center supervisor.

SPCA interim Wildlife supervisor said it seems something in the water killed the birds.

‘The fish eat the toxic algae and the birds eat the contaminated fish. Their bodies can’t handle that,’ said Shipman.

Most of the dozen birds were taken to biologists at the Department of Fish and Game in Monterey to be tested. The Department of Fish and Game said test results will show the cause of death. Experts do not suspect any human foul play.” Source – Central Coast NEWS.