FACT CHECK: Mass bird, fish deaths occur regularly

[Mark Maker]

Source: Yahoo/AP

By SETH BORENSTEIN, AP Science Writer – 21 mins ago
WASHINGTON – First, the blackbirds fell out of the sky on New Year's Eve in Arkansas. In recent days, wildlife have mysteriously died in big numbers: 2 million fish in the Chesapeake Bay, 150 tons of red tilapia in Vietnam, 40,000 crabs in Britain and other places across the world. Blogs connected the deadly dots, joking about the "aflockalypse" while others saw real signs of something sinister, either biblical or environmental.
The reality, say biologists, is that these mass die-offs happen all the time and usually are unrelated.
Federal records show they happen on average every other day somewhere in North America. Usually, we don't notice them and don't try to link them to each other.
"They generally fly under the radar," said ornithologist John Wiens, chief scientist at the California research institution PRBO Conservation Science.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110107/ap_on_sc/us_sci_dead_wildlife_fact_check;_ylt=AspHr2vSgtcIRvL4uOM.ciKb.HQA;_ylu=X3oDMTN2djdsNTJnBGFzc2V0Ay9zL2FwLzIwMTEwMTA3L2FwX29uX3NjL3VzX3NjaV9kZWFkX3dpbGRsaWZlX2ZhY3RfY2hlY2sEY2NvZGUDbXBfZWNfOF8xMARjcG9zAzkEcG

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That takes some of the fun out of it.

Unless ornithologist John Wiens is part of the conspiracy.

*insert eerie Forbidden Planet music here*

[aquart]

1. Fine. Show me the statistics to back it up.

on edit: because if we aren't tracking and recording these die-offs we actually have no fucking idea if they're related or not.

[tabatha]

4. exactly.

Although, PRBO is pretty good.

[csziggy]

15. Go to the USGS site and check it out

http://www.nwhc.usgs.gov/publications/quarterly_reports/index.jsp

The events are not easily search able by suspected cause of death or location. They are listed for each quarter in order by state.

Here are first quarter events for Arkansas from 1995 to 2010. Emphasis added for the first event since it seems so relevant to the discussion:

Chicot County AR 01/27/95-01/27/95 Snow Goose; Ross' Goose; White-fronted Goose; Northern Shoveler; Canada Goose 300 (e) Trauma: storm

Ash Flat AR 01/21/98-02/10/98 American Goldfinch 25 Salmonellosis

Sevier County AR 03/28/99- 03/28/99 Common Grackle 15 Toxicosis: organophosphorus cmpd. suspect NW

Izard, Independence, Searcy Counties AR 3/18/99- 03/19/99 American Robin; Common Grackle 30 (e) Toxicosis: organophosphorus cmpd. suspect

AR Arkansas Co., Little Sierra Duck Club 01/09/01-01/16/01 American Coot, Unidentified Grebe, Ring-necked Duck, Gadwall 206 (e) Aviancholera SC

AR Baxter Co., Mountain Home 03/14/01-03/30/01 Common Grackle 20 (e) Toxicosis: organophosphorus cmpd. suspect

AR Stone Co., Stout Pond 01/24/02-02/05/02 Wood Frog 5 Expose NW
AR Stone Co., Ozark NF 02/26/00-02/26/00 Wood Frog 140 Predation NW
AR Stone Co., Ozark NF 02/09/01-02/09/01 Wood Frog 35 Predation suspect

AR Bald Knob NWR 01/06/06-01/15/06 Greater Snow Goose, Ross' Goose 1,000 (e) Aflatoxicosis suspect

AR City of Marion 01/08/08-01/10/08 Ross' Goose 12 (e) Trauma NW
AR City of McNeil 01/23/08-01/27/08 American Goldfinch, Pine Siskin, Purple Finch 50 (e) Salmonellosis NW
AR De Witt Area 01/01/08-01/05/08 Mallard 6 Undetermined

[SpartanDem]

17. you could be not lazy and read the entire article

Since the 1970s, the U.S. Geological Survey's National Wildlife Health Center in Wisconsin has tracked mass deaths among birds, fish and other critters, said wildlife disease specialist LeAnn White. At times the sky and the streams just turn deadly. Sometimes it's disease, sometimes pollution. Other times it's just a mystery.

In the past eight months, the USGS has logged 95 mass wildlife die-offs in North America and that's probably a dramatic undercount, White said. The list includes 900 some turkey vultures that seemed to drown and starve in the Florida Keys, 4,300 ducks killed by parasites in Minnesota, 1,500 salamanders done in by a virus in Idaho, 2,000 bats that died of rabies in Texas, and the still mysterious death of 2,750 sea birds in California.

On average, 163 such events are reported to the federal government each year, according to USGS records. And there have been much larger die-offs than the 3,000 blackbirds in Arkansas. Twice in the summer of 1996, more than 100,000 ducks died of botulism in Canada.

[aquart]

25. 100,000 ducks died of botulism.

Twice in 1996 and only 1996.

Yeah, I can see how normal and regular these die-outs are. Nothing to bother about.

[RKP5637]

2. Interesting!!! n/t

[MannyGoldstein]

3. It's still all pretty amusing

I suspect that there's a very reasonable explanation. But it is very weird.

[bhikkhu]

31. We all die.

I don't generally find it more amusing whether we die one at a time, or when we do it in bunches.

[Quixote1818]

5. Doesn't surprise me in the least. The probability of them occurring right in a town

or city is extremely low which is why this hit the news and then of course they started reporting every other news of similar stories because people were more aware of them happening and reporting every other type of thing.

[molly77]

32. People are dying in the gulf

from oil and corexit contamination in their water , air and food. You don't see too much about it on MSM. So they are not a reliable source of information. Lot of difference in dying from natural causes and that many birds falling out of the sky dead. The explanations given make it even more serious.

[alphafemale]

6. Figured as much. Flavor of the month offered by the infoscaretainment industry

This flu season has been a yawner so far.

And shark attack season is a long way off yet.

[generalbetrayus]

7. Dunno, according to a Facebook "friend" of mine who's a teabagger,

"More dead birds, Arkansas, Louisiana, Kentucky, and now Sweden. I think this may just be a message from God....
Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Matthew 6:26".

Of course, if she actually read the rest of that passage from the Bible, she would see it is about not worrying about material possessions because God will take care of you. And she just HATES it when Obama or anyone in government wants to take HER money ... :crazy:

[bhikkhu]

8. Yet "mass deaths" are not without cause

they don't simply decide collectively that its no longer worth it, and cease living; there is always a cause, and its worth knowing what happened.

In my area, for instance, 30,000+ salmon died in one river, one afternoon a couple of years ago. It was later discovered that the river levels had been drawn down excessively for irrigation on one of the hotter days of the year, and they all essentially cooked to death in the stagnating water. Not very pleasant for the fish, not very good news for fishermen or dependent species, and the kind of rotten mess farmers would like to avoid as well. A little science done, and water flows are managed better now for the good of all, fish included (so far).

on edit - Mass death isn't funny, btw, nor is it likely to be natural, as long as we humans are running the show.

[smiley]

9. b.s.

Then why aren't we hearing about this more regularly? Show me the "federal records" then.

Link to google maps showing recent animal kills
maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&oe=UTF8&msa=0&msid=201817256339889828327.0004991bca25af104a22b

[emilyg]

10. +1

[Raschel]

11. And now turtle doves in Italy? :(

[csziggy]

16. Here are the USGS listings of animal death reports for 1995-2010

http://www.nwhc.usgs.gov/publications/quarterly_reports/index.jsp

Took a couple of seconds with Google.

[Name removed]

12. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Catherina]

13. No shit. n/t

[Botany]

14. There are reasons and then there are reasons

I have been in touch with 2 friends who are really good ecologists / biologists today
some of this can be explained and some are a little more perplexing.

Yes, redwing black birds flock and feed together but to all be hit at the same time
with something that makes them fall from the sky and show internal organ disruption
is kind of strange.

[progressoid]

18. Cell phones done it. EOM.

[boppers]

19. 12 children have autistic symptoms! Ban Vaccines!

Wait, what was I saying?

Oh, yeah.

Science and (m)ass media are a horrible mix.

[Codeine]

20. Add in a credulous and scientifically-illiterate public

and let the fun begin.

[mackerel]

21. Really it happens regularly?

I guess I'm just not looking in the right places.

[boppers]

22. Vitamin C

Eggs and Cholesterol
Raw foods
Sodium intake
Corn Syrup
Atkins Diet
....

It happens often.

edit: typo

[Bluebear]

23. How is this 'Latest Breaking News'

[Turborama]

24. It's not

I think some people must just plunge headlong in without reading the pinned thing at the top of the main page. :shrug:

[Still a Democrat]

26. FACT CHECK is a corporate tool - the world is ending and we know it

:rofl:

[X_Digger]

27. Reminds me of the 'shark scare' in 2001..

Remember when there was a rash of shark bites being reported in the news? Turns out, there were actually slightly less than average number of bites that year..

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Summer_of_the_Shark

[fatbuckel]

28. Whats with the crazy link? BTW,Yahoo has proven itself not to be trusted.

[X_Digger]

30. It's an AP article, not yahoo..

"By SETH BORENSTEIN, AP Science Writer"

[fatbuckel]

33. Sorry, I stand corrected. Here`s some cred on ol` Seth...

I love google.....



AP’S SETH BORENSTEIN PROBLEMS

Seth Borenstein’s byline is usually ‘Associated Press Science Writer’. It should read ‘Associated Press “Science” writer’ The scare quotes around “science” are necessary because Borenstein practices a type of reporting that is anything but objective–at least when the subject matter is climate change.

Anyone who’s familiar with Borenstein’s body of work on climate science for the news cooperative can be certain of two things. 1-That when the AP does a story on climate science, Borenstein’s name will likely be on it; and, 2-Whenever a Borenstein AP story and climate science meet, Seth will do his best to scare the bejeezus out of readers: there ain’t no happy ending.

A quick look at what this objective “reporter” has written–and the AP has distributed–since the CRU leaked emails surfaced. Readers can make their own judgment.

Recent AP articles by “Science” writer, Seth Borenstein, include:

* Review: Scientists’ e-mails don’t devalue climate theory Sun Dec 13, 2009
* AP verdict: Climate emails show science not faked, but not pretty either Sat Dec 12, 2009
* United Nations to probe climate e-mail leak Fri Dec 4, 2009
* Global warming may require higher dams, stilts Thu Dec 3, 2009
* Obama science advisers grilled over hacked e-mails Wed Dec 2, 2009
* ‘A million small changes’ to better climate Fri Nov 27, 2009
* ‘We are in more trouble than we thought’ Monday Nov 23, 2009

Keep in mind these were all written after the ClimateGate emails were made public on November 19, 2009. One question upon perusing the above list: is Seth Borenstein responding as an objective reporter would?

In case anyone missed his politics, Borenstein also found time from his intrepid AGW journalism to write this paean to President Barack Obama, in which Borenstein compared Obama to Star Trek’s Mr. Spock: CAPITAL CULTURE: Is Obama another Mr. Spock? Monday Nov 30, 2009.

The piece had the expected Borenstein M.O.: a heavy reliance on “experts” who already agreed with Borenstein’s thesis and the quote of one person, former Bush science adviser Jack Marburger,–for “balance”–who disagreed, which was relegated to the last paragraphs; which are the very ones newspapers most likely will cut when pressed for space.


http://deathby1000papercuts.com/2009/12/seth-borenstein-ap-has-a-science-writer-problems/

[Bluenorthwest]

29. PRBO is for the birds, in a good way

For over 40 years. Since before it was fashionable to give a fuck about the fowl. Mr Wiens has been paying attention longer and stronger than most of us have been.
If this is handled the way other issues are here, the simple act of placing events into context will be greeted with jeers. As if he is saying 'this is nothing to think about' when he and his organization think of birds sort of full time.

[Marnie]

34. What does Happens All the Time actuall mean?

What records are kept?
Has this been occurring for centuries?
Even if it does happen All The Time, what ever that means, that doesn't answer the question of what the cause of each die of is and is human expansion and alterations is natural environment a cause or not?

[Igel]

35. That it happens frequently.

Fairly good ones. See links above.

Yes, it has been happening for centuries. In decades past when there were more birds to be subject to a mass die-off the die-offs have been more massive. Of course, that was because there were fewer humans around to keep the flocks' numbers down. It also meant that many mass die-offs occurred and weren't reported.

Many times we don't know what the cause is. Often we do. There are lots of causes. In some cases humans are directly inculpated: a chemical spill, for instance. In other cases they're indirectly implicated: Draw down river water and it allows what's left to get hotter during the day, leading to a fish kill. In other cases, humans are perhaps even less directly indicated: We stress a population and it's less resistant to a disease or parasite. And, in other cases, humans aren't implicated: The weather gets too hot for too long so bodies of water that aren't adversely affected have fish kills, for instance, a recent fish kill in the Chesapeake triggered by an extended cold spell.

Nature's not friendly. Romanticizing it and idealizing it isn't a good idea, even if it does allow one to assume the blame and responsibility for it.

[boppers]

37. "Mother Nature" is quite appropriate for me to think about.

Of course, I had a violent, brutal, abusive, mother, so I'm less likely to think of motherhood as being loving or benign.

Others, however, tend to think of Mother Nature as less cruel and abusive, and are shocked when it turns out that "she" is not a loving and nurturing type.

[felix_numinous]

36. The public deserves to have a complete report

detailing significant environmental concerns, and this has not been happening for a very long time. If you research toxic events correlated with cancer outbreaks in this country you will quickly find that this is still going on. Corporate powers are not concerned about public health and that is plainly clear. The EPA has not been effective since the early 80's and they were created to be a check and balance against pollution by private companies in order to protect the public.

Do you actually think people are being warned adequately about what is in their water? Natural gas drilling, oil companies, coal companies, nuclear facilities, paper mills and chemical companies have a very poor record of informing the public on time so that they can save themselves from the often deadly aftermath.

Just recently the public was informed that water in 36 towns had the same carcinogen in it Erin Brockovich made famous years ago. What went on since then? Did any one test for this in water and not tell anyone until now?
http://bethesda.patch.com/articles/study-uncovers-hexavalent-chromium-in-bethesdas-drinking-water Turns out Bethesda is a hot spot for lymphoma, something I have come down with.

Make fun of this all you want. Perhaps I am too involved to be objective, tell yourself that. But question 'authority' until you get independent answers.