Thursday, January 6, 2011

Musings: Creeped Out

After a night of rain, I expected more of the same when Koko and I went walking this morning. Instead, my breath was taken away when I emerged from the trees around my house to see a vast expanse of stars — made all the more sweeping by the absence of clouds over the Giant — topped by a brilliant, twinkling Venus.

The air was chill, with a brisk wind blowing from the north, driving a wedge of clouds makai, and as we walked through the blackness, senses fully alive, I felt something and looked up to see a pueo flying silently overhead, its tawny wings faintly illuminated in the starlight.

Anybody who reads this blog knows I have an affinity for birds, which is why I took a particular interest in the massive bird deaths that occurred in Arkansas on Saturday, followed by a smaller number of deaths in Louisiana on Monday.

Then came the report of a large number of birds found dead in Sweden on Monday night and Tuesday morning, with the Swedish National Veterinary Institute saying autopsies performed on five of the birds showing they died due to "sudden, hard external blows," and another report of some 200 dead birds in Texas, and yet another report of mass bird deaths in western Kentucky.

And that's not all. There were also numerous reports of mass fish kills. This site gives a world map view of the recent mass animal deaths.

The die offs have even caught the attention of the U.N. Environment Program, which is calling for more research.

So when I saw the headline, ”Mysterious bird deaths explained,” followed by a report that the Louisiana birds supposedly were startled into a mad flush by fireworks, I just didn’t buy it. And when I looked at some of the 3,308 comments that followed that report, it was clear that a lot of other folks are skeptical, too, raising such points as if that were the case, why don’t we see mass bird deaths every 4th of July, and how, then, to explain the deaths elsewhere?

What also emerged in looking at comments posted on reports about these birds is a lot of people don’t trust the government, with good cause.

My take on it is that it's an acoustical weapon. Or as a friend described in an email:

What a clean way to kill things...subsonic sounds (very deep) with big sound waves. I’m creeped out.

Yes, we should be creeped out. While I'm not one to believe in the Apocalypse, when you start looking at some of the weapons that are being developed, it becomes pretty clear that there's some worrisome stuff going on.

Along those lines, global food prices rose to a record high last month and food and fuel prices are expected to keep going up. Meanwhile, 48 million Americans are living in poverty.

And still the war drum, and its associated economic, social, environmental costs, keeps beating, with Obama sending another 1,400 Marines to the quagmire of Afghanistan.

9 comments:

  1. Why only birds and fish? Where are the dead worms, insects, small mammals, bacteria, fungus?
    Gotta be UFO'S !!!

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  2. http://moeliker.wordpress.com/2011/01/05/dead-birds-dont-fly/

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  3. here are SOME of the stats:

    Date, Location, Species and Numbers -


    12/22/10NC- Birds 100
    12/28/10AZ-Tuscon Mexican Free Tailed Bats 70
    12/29/10Italy-ScarlinoClams/Smallfish/Shell fish/Crabs/Flatfish 100,000
    12/30/10AR-Littlerock Drum Fish 100,000
    12/30/10Brazil, Parana-Paranagua Croaker, Catfish, Sardine Tons 100
    12/31/10AR-BeebeeRed Wing Black Birds/Starlings/Grakle 5000
    12/31/10Viet Nam-Dong Thap Red Talipia Farm Fish Tons 150
    1/2/11South Wales UK Various Carp/Bream/Otherfish 100,000-150,000
    1/3/11LA-Labarra Red Wing Black Birds/Starlings 750
    1/3/11France Eastern Red tail Doves 300
    1/3/11Japan Drum Fish/ 100,000
    1/4/11KY-Gilbertsville Robins, Starlings, Grakles hundreds
    1/4/11Germany Buzzards 53
    1/5/11Sweden JackJaws 100
    1/5/11FL-Spruce Creed Catfish, Mullet, Ladyfish 5000
    1/5/11MA- Chesapeake BayMenhayden, Croaker, Various 10,ooo-2,000,000
    1/5/11 New Zealand Red Snapper hundreds
    1/5/11 England-Kent Devil Crabs 40,000
    1/5/11 Italy-Faenza Collared Doves thousands
    1/5/11 Texas American Coot - Protected 200

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  4. Yay, Mass hysteria.

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  5. But the in-air bird deaths aren't due to some apocalyptic plague or insidious experiment—they happen all the time, scientists say. The recent buzz, it seems, was mainly hatched by media hype.

    http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2011/01/110106-birds-falling-from-sky-bird-deaths-arkansas-science/

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  6. On both stories.....what can we really do about it?

    Even if the worst is known.

    Dr Shibai

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  7. I think the military killed them with a flying Superferry.

    Nothing like a bit of an odd situation to get people's pet whackjob ideas out in the open.

    Rolf probably thinks it's the chem trails............

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  8. The amusing thing about Jan 6 anonymous's list is it stretches back all the way through history. People assume it is a discrete occurrence because yhe media made it seems such. Now don't you feel silly? Especially those of you who fancy yourselves as savvy, sophisticated, and above the reach of the media's cynical machinations

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  9. Good to hear that pueo are still around. I used to see them frequently on this island--often in late afternoon/early evening, but have seen hardly any at all lately.

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