MidnightWatcher – Prophecy in Motion

When David Hancock saw the bald-eagle count on the Chehalis River drop from more than 7,000 to fewer than 400 over a few days in December, he knew a crisis was coming.

Earlier this week, news reports that starving eagles were “falling out of the sky” in the Comox Valley, on Vancouver Island, confirmed his fears.  Read more.

“Ailment afflicting birds around Lake Erie

Several dozen Canada geese along western Lake Erie’s shoreline have recently died or are presumed dead while others have become so sick they cannot hold up their heads, fly, or maintain control of their motor functions.

State wildlife investigators are stumped, awaiting word on tests that a national wildlife laboratory in Wisconsin has been doing on some of the dead birds.

“They will fall out of the sky and have trouble staying upright,” said Dave Sherman, a biologist at the Crane Creek Wildlife Research Station the Ohio Department of Natural Resources operates in Ottawa County.”  Read more.

Tasmania’s Environment Protection Authority (EPA) is investigating the death of thousands of juvenile barracouta at two sites in the River Derwent over the last two weeks.  Read more.

All members of a pod of 107 pilot whales that stranded on a remote New Zealand beach have died, including 48 that were euthanized, the government’s conservation department said Monday.

The stranded whales were discovered by hikers Sunday near Cavalier Creek on Stewart Island, off the southern tip of New Zealand’s South Island.  Read more.

Mass deaths of blackbirds in the Crimea are puzzling Ukrainian scientists.

Dozens of the migratory birds have been found dead on the Kamyshovskoye highway in Sevastopol, along Kazachya Bay and in other coastal areas, ITAR-Tass reported Saturday.  Read more.

DETROIT (Reuters) – At least 200 geese have died for unknown reasons along the southwestern shores of Lake Erie while others are struggling to hold their heads up, stay upright and fly, Ohio officials said on Friday.  Read more.