Rare bird has humans flocking to Julian

JULIAN — For hard-core birders, the alert that went out late last Saturday morning via an “extreme rarity” text message couldn’t have been much more startling.

“It would be like seeing a penguin in Julian. It’s impossible,” said Rick Campbell.

It was about 10 a.m. that morning when Mike Goldhamer, a serious bird photographer from San Diego, was watching the feeders behind Julian’s The Birdwatcher shop. Goldhamer saw a familiar bird, a tiny one he immediately recognized as a Common Redpoll.

Goldhamer had taken pictures of the same bird species this past summer — in Barrow, Alaska. The thing is, Redpolls are indeed common in the Arctic and Canada and Alaska, but never before, ever, has one been seen as far south in California as San Diego County. In fact, since 1899 only 11 had ever been seen in the state and none closer than Fresno.

Read on:  http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2012/feb/10/hundreds-flock-julian-see-rare-bird/

Written by

J. Harry Jones

Unusual Amount Of Gray Whales Spotted Of California Coast

Whale watchers are saying that migrating gray whales are swimming through Southern California waters in record numbers this winter.


The Los Angeles Times said on Wednesday that whale watchers at Point Vicente in Rancho Palos Verdes have recorded a record 163 sightings in December so far, which is the most that have been logged at this location in 28 years.

At this time last year, observers logged 26 gray whales. The previous record saw 133 of the mammals in 1996.

“I’ve seen some pretty good years but never anything like this,” Joyce Daniels, a volunteer in the whale census, told the LA Times.

“We had whales everywhere. So many I was having trouble figuring out which whale was which,” she said. “It’s a real adrenaline rush to have so many whales.”

Over 20,000 gray whales migrate each year from the arctic to Baja California, where females give birth. The mammals then migrate back north for the spring weather.

California’s coast is not just accustomed to only gray whales. Last spring, hundreds of blue whales were spotted in the area. Humpback whales have also been seen off the Californian coast.

Researchers say they hope this means things in the whaling world are going good and the populations are becoming more robust.

http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1112447067/unusual-amount-of-gray-whales-spotted-of-california-coast/

After Century's Absence, Seabirds' Return Surprises Scientists

Earlier this year, government scientists discovered a welcome bundle of joy: a nest of seabird chicks on the Channel Islands off California's coast. This is the first time baby birds of this species have been seen here since 1912.

Researchers from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and the National Park Service (NPS) discovered the California Common Murre (Uria aalge californica) chicks last July. The football-size seabirds are members of the auk family (Alcidae) and resemble black-and-white species of penguins. Like penguins, murres use their wings to "fly" deep underwater, but unlike penguins, they also fly in the air.

Historically, murres nested on Prince Island, a small islet off San Miguel Island within Channel Islands National Park. This colony disappeared nearly a century ago, likely as a result of human disturbance and egg harvesting.

In California, Common Murres are most abundant off central through northern California, with tens to hundreds of thousands of birds nesting at the Farallon Islands, off Trinidad Head, and at Castle Rock National Wildlife Refuge. Smaller colonies are found farther south, on nearshore islets along the Big Sur coast and, now, once again on Prince Island.


Read more here ...

Owl gets trapped upside down in fake Halloween web

Halloween is over for another year and this owl, who got stuck in a fake web, will not be sad to see the back of it.

The western screech owl got stuck upside down for hours after flying into a green web in a back garden.

Luckily, someone spotted the bird and alerted wildlife experts.

Despite suffering from dehydration, it was unhurt and, after being treated with intravenous fluids, the bird was released in the same yard where it was found – after the residents had removed the web.
Melanie Piazza, from WildCare, where the owl was treated in San Rafael, California, said similar incidents were a lot more common than people may realise.

‘We’ve had squirrels come in with Fourth of July banners wrapped around their tails and deer that have been stuck in Christmas lights,’ she said.

‘How many times have you walked through a spider web yourself and got it across your face, and said, “Oh my god, I didn’t see that?”’

In Britain, the RSPCA says litter is a significant problem for wildlife and domestic pets – a fox cub was recently found with its head stuck in a dumped wheel hub, and a dog was discovered with its tongue caught in an empty can.

Read more: http://www.metro.co.uk/weird/880567-owl-gets-trapped-upside-down-in-fake-halloween-web#ixzz1dDT17dsS

Read more: http://www.metro.co.uk/weird/880567-owl-gets-trapped-upside-down-in-fake-halloween-web#ixzz1dDSwkmOl

Bigger Birds in Central California, Courtesy of Global Climate Change, Study Suggests

ScienceDaily (Oct. 31, 2011) — Birds are getting bigger in central California, and that was a big surprise for Rae Goodman and her colleagues. Goodman uncovered the trend while working as a graduate student for Associate Professor of Biology Gretchen LeBuhn, analyzing data from thousands of birds caught and released each year at two sites near San Francisco Bay and Point Reyes National Seashore.

The SF State scientists found that birds' wings have grown longer and birds are increasing in mass over the last 27 to 40 years.

What's making the birds bigger? The researchers think that the trend is due to climate change, but their findings put a twist in the usual thinking about climate change and body size. A well-known ecological rule, called Bergmann's Rule, states that animals tend to be larger at higher latitudes. One reason for this rule might be that larger animals conserve body heat better, allowing them to thrive in the generally colder climate of higher latitudes.

Under this reasoning, some scientists have predicted that animals would get smaller as Earth has warmed up over the past 100 years. But the study, published in the journal Global Change Biology, suggests that the connection may not be so simple.

Climate change may affect body size in a variety of ways, they note in their paper. For instance, birds might get bigger as they store more fat to ride out severe weather events, which are expected to be more common under global climate change. Climate change could also alter a region's plant growth, which may eventually lead to changes in a bird's diet that affect its size.

LeBuhn said she was "completely surprised" to find that the central California birds were growing larger over time. "It's one of those moments where you ask, 'what's happening here?'" The results were so unexpected, she said, that the findings made them take a step back and look more closely at how climate change could influence body size.

The bird data come from two long-term "banding stations" in central California, where a wide variety of birds are captured, banded about the leg with an identification tag, and weighed and measured before being released. Many of the same birds were captured each year, allowing the researchers at the sites to build up a unique database that could be used to track changes among the birds over several decades.

The researchers used data from 14,735 individual birds collected from 1971 to 2010 at the Palomarin Field Station, near the southern end of the Point Reyes National Seashore, by researchers from PRBO Conservation Science. Their study also included data on 18,052 birds collected between 1983 and 2009, from the Coyote Creek Field Station at the southern end of the San Francisco Bay by the San Francisco Bay Bird Observatory.

"At the time I started my research, a few studies had looked at body size changes in a few species in Europe and the Middle East, but no one had examined bird body size changes in North America," said Goodman, who graduated from SF State in 2010 and now teaches biology and environmental science at San Francisco's Jewish Community High School of the Bay.

"We had the good fortune to find an unexpected result -- a gem in research science," she added. "But we were then left with the puzzle of figuring out what was going on."

After testing and discarding a number of other explanations, Goodman and her colleagues were confident that climate change was behind the longer wings and bigger bodies in most of the birds. The birds may be responding to climate-related changes in plant growth or increased climate variability in central California, the researchers suggest in the paper.

The findings offer a glimpse at the potent effects of climate change across a wide range of species, LeBuhn said. "Even over a pretty short period of time, we've documented changes in important traits like body size, where we don't expect to see much flexibility."

"But in some ways," she added, "it gave me a little more hope that these birds are able to respond -- hopefully in time -- to changes in climate."

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/10/111031154127.htm

Blue whales off California. Why aren't they recovering?

Research shows Blue whales endangered by shipping
October 2011. Scientists in California have been puzzling as to why, when most large whale species have recovered well in the last 20 years, Blue whales have not.

Blue whales migrate past the Post of Los Angeles, one of the busiest in the world, between May and December. There are regular reports of ships striking the Blue whales, and at least 4 were killed in 2007. The true number may be much higher because most blue whale deaths go undocumented with the carcass sinking or the blue whale floating offshore undiscovered. Blue whales face serious risks from ship strikes especially when they use areas like LA/Long Beach on the route of the high level of shipping traffic serving these ports.

Blue whale research on occurrence off S California, abundance, and presence near shipping lanes has benefited by the recent collaborative effort between Cascadia Research and the Aquarium of the Pacific with the help of Harbor Breeze Cruises. This work has revealed a higher level of recent use of the waters off LA by Blue whales than had been known previously.

The lack of increase in blue whale populations is in contrast to many other large whale species that occur off California like Humpback, Fin, and Gray whales which have shown strong recoveries from whaling over the last 20 years.

Read on ...

California bans sale of shark fins

After more than 27,000 sign online petition, ban becomes law
October 2011: California has become the fourth American state to ban the sale of shark fins. Governor Jerry Brown signed the California shark fin ban into law earlier this month.

Shark finning is a process by which fishermen catch sharks, slice off their fins and tails, then throw the fish back into the water to die. Up to 73 million sharks are killed through finning every year, pushing some shark populations to decline by as much as 90 per cent in recent years. About 85 per cent of U.S. shark-fin consumption occurs in California .

'This just might preserve sharks and the ocean ecosystem'The bill's passage marks a huge win for the Asian Pacific American Ocean Harmony Alliance (APA Alliance), an organisation formed to give voice to Asian Americans who support the ban on the sale of shark fins. Bill Wong, a member of the APA Alliance, recruited more than 25,000 people to join a campaign on Change.org calling for passage of the ban.

‘We applaud Governor Brown for signing this agreement,' said Bill Wong, creator of the petition on Change.org and member of the Asian Pacific American Ocean Harmony Alliance. ‘It puts California at the forefront of the global effort to save sharks led by a broad coalition of Asian Pacific Americans, conservationists, animal rights activists, commercial fishermen, business leaders and artists.

‘The passage of this bill may just be the tipping point that will preserve the shark species and the ocean ecosystem.'

The ban comes into effect on January 1, 2012, but businesses and individuals can sell shark fins obtained before the ban went into effect until July 1, 2013. California is now the fourth U.S. state to enact a ban on the sale of shark fins, joining Hawaii, Washington and Oregon.

http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/shark-california.html#cr

White possum in California

Leucistic opossum in California September 2011. Karen Franklin, who lives in the Panhandle Annex neighbourhood of Richmond, California, heard an animal disturbing her chickens, so she set a trap to catch what she thought would be a raccoon or a cat. Karen was very surprised when she saw what the culprit was - A white, leucistic opossum. Karen let the animal go, but not before she had taken a couple of photos.

Opossum or Possum?
Strictly speaking, possums are natives of Australia, and opossums are native to the Americas - though they are often called possums.

Leucism (or Leukism)
Leucism is a very unusual condition whereby the pigmentation cells in an animal or bird fail to develop properly. This can result in unusual white patches appearing on the animal, or, more rarely, completely white creatures.

See Photo at:
http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/possum-white.html

Pig-Size South American Rodent Spotted in Central California

Nick Kamp, who works at a water treatment plant in Paso Robles, Calif., was near a solid-waste pond when he spotted something emerging from the murky water. He quickly snapped a few photos of what turned out to be a capybara, the world's largest rodent, before it slipped back into the water and swam away.

Capybaras resemble huge guinea pigs and can grow to be as large as sheep, sometimes reaching more than 1.3 meters in length. They eat grass, freshwater plants and—to aide digestion—their own feces. The semiaquatic mammals are native to South American marshlands and swamps, but this sighting in central California was not the first.

Three years ago, a capybara sighting at a nearby golf course was dismissed as a probable beaver misidentification, but the hulking rodent later showed up chasing a farm dog, whose owner tried unsuccessfully to shoot the wild animal. California Department of Fish and Game official Todd Tognazzini told local TV news reporters that he suspects people are seeing the same capybara in each incident, and that it's most likely an escaped exotic pet.

This sighting was the first caught on film.

—Lauren F. Friedman
http://www.scientificamerican.com/gallery_directory.cfm?photo_id=D43E1901-9C0D-2E2B-5DF1EBCCCD4FAE14

New Virus Jumps From Monkeys to Lab Worker

It started with a single monkey coming down with pneumonia at the California National Primate Research Center in Davis. Within weeks, 19 monkeys were dead and three humans were sick. Now, a new report confirms that the Davis outbreak was the first known case of an adenovirus jumping from monkeys to humans. The upside: the virus may one day be harnessed as a tool for gene therapy.

Adenoviruses are relatively large DNA viruses—as opposed to many other viruses that replicate using RNA—that commonly cause colds and respiratory infections in humans. They're also responsible for a variety of illnesses in cattle, dogs, horses, pigs, and other animals, but scientists thought the viruses and their ailments couldn't jump between species.

Then, on 14 May 2009, a healthy adult male titi monkey—a small, reddish-brown species that calls much of South America home—came down with a cough at the Davis primate center and soon became lethargic and wouldn't eat. Staff members gave the animal intravenous fluids and antibiotics, but its condition worsened, and after 5 days staff members euthanized him. Four weeks later, another titi monkey came down with the same symptoms. Then another. And another. Within 2 months, 23 of the 65-strong population had become sick, and 19 eventually died. A team led by infectious diseases researcher Charles Chiu of the University of California, San Francisco, analyzed lung tissue samples from the dead monkeys and identified a never-before-seen adenovirus, which they named titi monkey adenovirus (TMAdV).

But where did the virus come from? It's unlikely it originated in the titi monkeys themselves, Chiu says: "Hosts that are that susceptible to a disease are not likely to be its originators." So the researchers asked whether any lab workers had been sick during that period. One person, who had had close daily contact with the monkeys, reported coming down with a fever, chills, a headache, a dry cough, and a burning sensation in her lungs—hallmarks of the kinds of respiratory infection commonly caused by adenoviruses. Two of her family members reported similar, though less severe, symptoms in subsequent weeks.

Neither the lab worker nor her family members sought medical attention, and all recovered within 4 weeks, after which it was too late for researchers to swab for traces of the adenoviruses directly. Instead, they examined the patients' blood for antibodies and compared them with those found in the infected monkeys. The lab worker and one of her family members showed a match, suggesting that the monkeys gave the virus to the lab worker or vice versa. But when the team tested a representative set of 81 blood samples from donors in the western United States, none had antibodies. That suggests humans weren't the source of the outbreak either.

After testing the other monkeys at the primate center, which houses hundreds of enclosures, the researchers found one healthy rhesus macaque with TMAdV antibodies. That suggests the disease might have arisen in the macaques and somehow passed to lab workers or the titi monkeys via shared medical equipment or some other contact between the two species, the researchers report today in PLoS Pathogens.

Although the virus didn't prove deadly, or even all that serious, to the humans it infected, the new findings suggest there may be more pathogens than previously thought with species-jumping potential. "Now we need to broaden our focus in looking at monkeys' and other animals' adenoviruses," Chiu says. "We've only touched the tip of the iceberg."

Michael Imperiale, a microbiologist at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, says TMAdV isn't necessarily a public health threat. He likens the virus to avian influenza, which humans can contract from birds but which is so poorly transmissible between people that it hasn't triggered an epidemic. "The question isn't just whether the virus can jump, but also whether it can widely spread," he says. "That hasn't been proven yet."

More troubling, Imperiale says, is that the primate center's lab workers appear to have ignored or skirted safety protocols. Chiu says that since the incident, the center has beefed up its oversight and emphasis on following protective measures.

TMAdV's rarity in humans could make it a potentially powerful tool as a viral vehicle for delivering gene therapy, Chiu adds. Researchers already use custom adenoviruses stitched with beneficial snippets of DNA to treat diseases; for instance, the cancer-fighting virus Gendicine introduces genes that code for the tumor-suppressing protein p53. The problem is that many people have antibodies to these viruses and their immune responses can make such treatments dangerous or even deadly. That problem likely wouldn't occur with an engineered version of TMAdV because nobody has antibodies to it. Chiu has a patent pending for using TMAdV as a gene-therapy vehicle.

http://news.sciencemag.org/sciencenow/2011/07/new-virus-jumps-from-monkeys-to-.html?etoc&elq=0a1b088aa3b24b75a261462cdedb6389

The Barkley luxury pet hotel for pampered cats and dogs in California

The Barkley luxury pet hotel sits across the street from the Four Seasons hotel in Los Angeles, an apt location. While guests at the Four Seasons can order breakfast in bed, have a massage or take a swim in the pool, those staying at the Barkley can do the same, plus much much more. The Barkley provides the highest level of luxury for pampered pets.



http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/picturegalleries/howaboutthat/8626099/The-Barkley-luxury-pet-hotel-for-pampered-cats-and-dogs-in-California.html

Paranormal group seeks help confirming 'Bigfoot DNA'

A California paranormal group claims to have DNA samples of Bigfoot -- concrete evidence of the legendary creature's existence -- but they want help authenticating them.

Members of the Sanger Paranormal Society will call upon the public to donate money and resources to their Bigfoot research effort at a Thursday afternoon news conference in Fresno, Calif.

Read on

Dog gets head stuck in wall

A German shepherd dog has been rescued after getting his head stuck in a wall.


The eight-month-old dog, called Rebel, somehow managed to squeeze his head through the 18-inch block wall in Desert Hot Springs, California, reports the Telegraph.

A friend of the owner heard the dog whimper and bark and called the County Animal Services, before officers gently pulled its head back through the wall after 30 minutes.

Rebel made a full escape from the wall and recovery from the ordeal.

http://web.orange.co.uk/article/quirkies/Dog_gets_head_stuck_in_wall

Dog gets head stuck in wall

A German shepherd dog has been rescued after getting his head stuck in a wall.


The eight-month-old dog, called Rebel, somehow managed to squeeze his head through the 18-inch block wall in Desert Hot Springs, California, reports the Telegraph.

A friend of the owner heard the dog whimper and bark and called the County Animal Services, before officers gently pulled its head back through the wall after 30 minutes.

Rebel made a full escape from the wall and recovery from the ordeal.

http://web.orange.co.uk/article/quirkies/Dog_gets_head_stuck_in_wall

Sea Lion Found At School, Miles From Water

BRENTWOOD, Calif. -- A wayward sea lion was rescued near Brentwood Saturday after wandering a couple of miles away from any source of water.


Officials don't know how the 170-pound female sea lion ended up at an elementary school in the town of Knightsen, but it was first spotted on Delta road.

The Contra Costa Sheriff's Department corralled her in at the school until volunteers with the Marine Mammal Center arrived.

Also on scene were curious residents who ventured out to get a good look at the sea lion

“It's cool! We're the Knightsen sea lions now!,” said some children watching the spectacle.

The marine mammal center says the sea lion is named Na'au and has actually rescued her once before.

Jim Oswald, a spokesman for the center says the 5-year-old female sea lion was about two miles away from the closest source of water when it was rescued.

Oswald says the sea lion was previously rescued in May, then again in June, in Santa Cruz County.

While it's being cared for, Oswald says the animal will undergo testing to see if it's suffering from domoic acid poisoning, an illness caused when sea lions eat fish that have consumed toxic algae.

Sea Lion Found At School, Miles From Water

BRENTWOOD, Calif. -- A wayward sea lion was rescued near Brentwood Saturday after wandering a couple of miles away from any source of water.


Officials don't know how the 170-pound female sea lion ended up at an elementary school in the town of Knightsen, but it was first spotted on Delta road.

The Contra Costa Sheriff's Department corralled her in at the school until volunteers with the Marine Mammal Center arrived.

Also on scene were curious residents who ventured out to get a good look at the sea lion

“It's cool! We're the Knightsen sea lions now!,” said some children watching the spectacle.

The marine mammal center says the sea lion is named Na'au and has actually rescued her once before.

Jim Oswald, a spokesman for the center says the 5-year-old female sea lion was about two miles away from the closest source of water when it was rescued.

Oswald says the sea lion was previously rescued in May, then again in June, in Santa Cruz County.

While it's being cared for, Oswald says the animal will undergo testing to see if it's suffering from domoic acid poisoning, an illness caused when sea lions eat fish that have consumed toxic algae.

Bigfoot sightings return to Eugene, California and alarm residents

GARBERVILLE, California – It’s a big, hairy ape-like creature that has a distinctive fowl odor say those who claim to have encountered “Bigfoot,” or “Sasquatch,” as its commonly called. The creature is legend around the world, and especially in northern California where’s it’s been sighted on a regular basis for the past 150 plus years. Recent Thanksgiving week new sightings in Garberville and other redwood communities have concerned both residents and the California Department of Fish and Game.


At the same time, there's been recent reports of Bigfoot or a creature like it in and around the Eugene area. In fact, one local resident of the Eugene suburb of Alpine noted "seeing Bigfoot over Thanksgiving" while walking his dog in the woods near his home. Bigfoot has been a regular "visitor" to the Eugene area, say local U.S. Forest Service officials who've fielded hundreds of calls about Bigfoot in the woods of western Lane County.

Bigfoot responding to increase in tourism
One local media report stated that Bigfoot tracks were spotted near Garberville on Nov. 27 with massive feces droppings that were and not from a bear. In addition, numerous residents of the back woods area of town called police after hearing “terrible human-like moans coming from the forest.”

While the California Department of Fish and Game and local and state police departments are responding to recent Bigfoot sightings by locals and tourists in and around Garberville in Humboldt County, there’s a view around here that “Bigfoot will be Bigfoot, and that’s what he does from time to time,” says Garberville resident Ian Halmrast.

Still, other locals say they’re scared for both themselves and their children.

One local film maker from the L.A. area recently made a film about the legend of Bigfoot, and noted “it’s not aggressive when confronted by humans. The film maker also found evidence of Bigfoot kidnapping children from camp sites, but not harming them.

“There was this sound of food being scraped from a plate, and then an unbelievably loud cry as if someone was in pain. We ran towards it, and heard the sharp and brittle crack of the tree branches. We could then see this big thing run into the forest,” says Halmrast while breathing an exasperated sigh after the story he told.

Halmrast and others in Garberville -- a former logging and mill town in Northern California that was named “Dogtown” by the first settlers who arrived in this towering region of redwood trees back in the mid-1850’s – said there’s good reason to believe “Bigfoot is still out there.”

Garberville sits high in the mountains at nearly 550 feet where, say locals, “Bigfoot likes to hang out.”

During the recent Thanksgiving week -- with thousands of tourists and other visitors stopping to enjoy the redwood trees -- the recent new sightings of Sasquatch began to unfold.

“We first heard that he (Bigfoot) was back when a told us about a police report of something scaring people in the nearby forests. We all thought Bigfoot right then and there because we know it’s out there somewhere,” explains Deborah Dorsey who works in a local café.

At the same time, Dorsey notes that her brother Steve works at a nearby redwood tourist center that “markets Bigfoot” for tourists.

“Steve says he sells more carved Bigfoot figures and signs than most anything else during the busy summer months. While the police and the scientists who come up here discount the existence of the big guy, we know different because the stories have been going on for so long,” explains Dorsey who notes her grandfather telling her about Bigfoot when she was a kid more than 60 years ago.

Bigfoot is a legend with a long history in the Pacific Northwest and California
Anyone conducting research about Bigfoot or Sasquatch will find hundreds of thousands of references to the creature’s existence. Even accredited researches such as ape expert Jane Goodall have noted believe in such a creature existing both in North America and in various other places throughout the world.

Still, Bigfoot remains one of the most famous and controversial creatures in science today.

Those who’ve reportedly seen Bigfoot describe the ape-like beast as ranging between six to 10 feet with dark reddish hair and the weight and size of a big bull or cow. Those who’ve alleged to have seen the creature say it has large black eyes and a sort of cave-man like features.

Here in Garberville and other small town in the redwood forest region of Northern California the main claim to fame that Bigfoot is about “always seems to center on his footprints,” says local forester Wayne Cruthers.

“You get the tourists telling stories about spotting these footprints in the woods, and you just smile because you know that so many others also see Bigfoot foot prints but they don’t tell the cops or report it. You see, they’re not sure are they. It could be a bear or something. I think if we had a regular way to report Bigfoot sightings than we’d catch the thing,” says Cruthers who’s made it “a hobby to track Bigfoot legends in Garberville.”

Likewise, there have been numerous sightings of Bigfoot in 2010. The California communities of Mt. Lessen, Mt. Shasta, Weed, Round Mountain, Elk Creek, Caribou, Happy Camp, Clear Creek, Trinity Alps, Weaverville, Crescent Mill, Mammoth Lakes, Bear Valley, Eureka, Yreka, Fort Bragg, Orick and Crescent City have all listed reports to police about a “big, hairy beast walking in the woods.”

“We’ve seen photos of Bigfoot tracks that have a sort of claw look like a bear’s footprint. You sort of look in disbelief that such a thing could be around your home and kids,” says Cruthers with a helpless wave of his hands.

Bigfoot advocates, such as the noted crypto zoologist John Willison Green, have said “Bigfoot is a worldwide phenomenon that simply won’t go away"

Bigfoot sightings return to Eugene, California and alarm residents

GARBERVILLE, California – It’s a big, hairy ape-like creature that has a distinctive fowl odor say those who claim to have encountered “Bigfoot,” or “Sasquatch,” as its commonly called. The creature is legend around the world, and especially in northern California where’s it’s been sighted on a regular basis for the past 150 plus years. Recent Thanksgiving week new sightings in Garberville and other redwood communities have concerned both residents and the California Department of Fish and Game.


At the same time, there's been recent reports of Bigfoot or a creature like it in and around the Eugene area. In fact, one local resident of the Eugene suburb of Alpine noted "seeing Bigfoot over Thanksgiving" while walking his dog in the woods near his home. Bigfoot has been a regular "visitor" to the Eugene area, say local U.S. Forest Service officials who've fielded hundreds of calls about Bigfoot in the woods of western Lane County.

Bigfoot responding to increase in tourism
One local media report stated that Bigfoot tracks were spotted near Garberville on Nov. 27 with massive feces droppings that were and not from a bear. In addition, numerous residents of the back woods area of town called police after hearing “terrible human-like moans coming from the forest.”

While the California Department of Fish and Game and local and state police departments are responding to recent Bigfoot sightings by locals and tourists in and around Garberville in Humboldt County, there’s a view around here that “Bigfoot will be Bigfoot, and that’s what he does from time to time,” says Garberville resident Ian Halmrast.

Still, other locals say they’re scared for both themselves and their children.

One local film maker from the L.A. area recently made a film about the legend of Bigfoot, and noted “it’s not aggressive when confronted by humans. The film maker also found evidence of Bigfoot kidnapping children from camp sites, but not harming them.

“There was this sound of food being scraped from a plate, and then an unbelievably loud cry as if someone was in pain. We ran towards it, and heard the sharp and brittle crack of the tree branches. We could then see this big thing run into the forest,” says Halmrast while breathing an exasperated sigh after the story he told.

Halmrast and others in Garberville -- a former logging and mill town in Northern California that was named “Dogtown” by the first settlers who arrived in this towering region of redwood trees back in the mid-1850’s – said there’s good reason to believe “Bigfoot is still out there.”

Garberville sits high in the mountains at nearly 550 feet where, say locals, “Bigfoot likes to hang out.”

During the recent Thanksgiving week -- with thousands of tourists and other visitors stopping to enjoy the redwood trees -- the recent new sightings of Sasquatch began to unfold.

“We first heard that he (Bigfoot) was back when a told us about a police report of something scaring people in the nearby forests. We all thought Bigfoot right then and there because we know it’s out there somewhere,” explains Deborah Dorsey who works in a local café.

At the same time, Dorsey notes that her brother Steve works at a nearby redwood tourist center that “markets Bigfoot” for tourists.

“Steve says he sells more carved Bigfoot figures and signs than most anything else during the busy summer months. While the police and the scientists who come up here discount the existence of the big guy, we know different because the stories have been going on for so long,” explains Dorsey who notes her grandfather telling her about Bigfoot when she was a kid more than 60 years ago.

Bigfoot is a legend with a long history in the Pacific Northwest and California
Anyone conducting research about Bigfoot or Sasquatch will find hundreds of thousands of references to the creature’s existence. Even accredited researches such as ape expert Jane Goodall have noted believe in such a creature existing both in North America and in various other places throughout the world.

Still, Bigfoot remains one of the most famous and controversial creatures in science today.

Those who’ve reportedly seen Bigfoot describe the ape-like beast as ranging between six to 10 feet with dark reddish hair and the weight and size of a big bull or cow. Those who’ve alleged to have seen the creature say it has large black eyes and a sort of cave-man like features.

Here in Garberville and other small town in the redwood forest region of Northern California the main claim to fame that Bigfoot is about “always seems to center on his footprints,” says local forester Wayne Cruthers.

“You get the tourists telling stories about spotting these footprints in the woods, and you just smile because you know that so many others also see Bigfoot foot prints but they don’t tell the cops or report it. You see, they’re not sure are they. It could be a bear or something. I think if we had a regular way to report Bigfoot sightings than we’d catch the thing,” says Cruthers who’s made it “a hobby to track Bigfoot legends in Garberville.”

Likewise, there have been numerous sightings of Bigfoot in 2010. The California communities of Mt. Lessen, Mt. Shasta, Weed, Round Mountain, Elk Creek, Caribou, Happy Camp, Clear Creek, Trinity Alps, Weaverville, Crescent Mill, Mammoth Lakes, Bear Valley, Eureka, Yreka, Fort Bragg, Orick and Crescent City have all listed reports to police about a “big, hairy beast walking in the woods.”

“We’ve seen photos of Bigfoot tracks that have a sort of claw look like a bear’s footprint. You sort of look in disbelief that such a thing could be around your home and kids,” says Cruthers with a helpless wave of his hands.

Bigfoot advocates, such as the noted crypto zoologist John Willison Green, have said “Bigfoot is a worldwide phenomenon that simply won’t go away"

New Hurdle for California Condors May Be DDT From Years Ago

BIG SUR, Calif. — Four years ago, in a musky, leaf-lined cavity halfway up a 200-foot redwood tree here, two California condors made the region’s first known nesting attempt in more than a century.

Joe Burnett, a senior wildlife biologist with the Ventana Wildlife Society and the lead biologist for the Central California condor recovery program, who had been monitoring the condor pair, was delighted with this promising development in the continuing effort to save the nation’s largest bird from extinction. When this first breeding attempt proved unsuccessful, Mr. Burnett attributed it to the young birds’ inexperience. But when he climbed the giant tree to examine the abandoned nest, he was stunned at what he uncovered: the first evidence of a potentially significant new hurdle for the condor program.

“The eggshell fragments we found appeared abnormally thin,” Mr. Burnett said. “They were so thin that we had to run tests to confirm that it was a condor egg.” The fragments reminded him of the thin-shelled eggs from birds like brown pelicans and peregrine falcons, which had been devastated by DDT but are now on the rebound.

The discovery raised a disturbing question: could DDT — the deadly pesticide that has been banned in the United States since 1972 — produce condor reproductive problems nearly four decades later?

To find out, the Ventana Wildlife Society, which manages the Central California condor releases, has collected as many subsequent wild-laid eggs as possible. The handful of Big Sur breeding pairs lay a single egg once every other year. Ventana biologists brave the region’s trackless terrain to exchange a wild-laid egg with one from the zoo-based captive-breeding program. The unsuspecting condor pair then hatches the substitute egg as if it is their own.

In addition, Ventana biologists began to look for possible sources of DDT. Condors are carrion eaters, and in recent years the Big Sur birds have turned to what was historically a major food source: marine mammals. Mr. Burnett now suspects that animals like California sea lions may present a hidden danger to condors. Even today, sea lion blubber contains high levels of DDE, a toxic metabolic breakdown product of DDT.

Ventana biologists have been comparing the thickness of the eggshells recovered from the Big Sur birds with those produced by the Southern California condor flock that lives many miles from the coast. The Southern California birds do not feed on marine mammals, and their eggs are normal. Mr. Burnett says that preliminary results from Ventana’s study suggest that the Big Sur eggs are “substantially thinner” than those from the inland birds, and that early indicators point to DDT as the principal cause of the thinning.

Although no known source of DDT exists near Big Sur, a large DDT hot spot in the marine sediments off the Southern California coast called the Palos Verdes Shelf has attracted Mr. Burnett’s attention because it is near a breeding ground for California sea lions that eat the area’s fish. The sea lions then migrate up the coast. Hundreds of these sea lions use a rocky beach near Big Sur as a stopping point on the trip north. In recent years, this sea lion “haul-out” has become a favorite feeding spot for the Big Sur condors.

The DDT that pollutes the Palos Verdes Shelf originated half a century ago with the Montrose Chemical Corporation. At the time, Montrose was the world’s largest producer of what was once hailed as a “miracle pesticide.” According to Carmen White, the Environmental Protection Agency’s remedial project manager for the site, in the 1950s and ’60s Montrose discharged its untreated DDT waste directly into the Los Angeles County Sanitation District’s sewer system. An estimated 1,700 tons of DDT settled onto the seabed, where it continues to contaminate Pacific Coast waters. The E.P.A. has declared the area a Superfund site, and Ms. White is coordinating a plan to cover the most contaminated parts with a cap of sand and silt in 2012.

According to David Witting, a fishery biologist for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, diet determines how DDT affects various species. By 1971, when local officials forced Montrose to stop its discharge, Dr. Witting said brown pelicans and other surface-feeding birds had been hit hard. The pelicans were feeding on small, DDT-contaminated fish that picked up the pesticide as it drifted to the surface near the sewer outfall.

Once Montrose stopped discharging DDT into the sewer, that contamination source disappeared. “Brown pelicans rebounded fairly quickly after the dumping stopped,” Dr. Witting said.

James Haas, the environmental contaminants program coordinator for the Pacific Southwest region of the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, noted that other birds in the region that feed higher on the food chain, like bald eagles, continue to suffer from DDT-induced eggshell thinning.

Concerns about condors and DDT have prompted the Fish and Wildlife Service to initiate a new one-year project to study how marine mammals might be carrying Montrose DDT up the California coast. The main investigator, Myra Finkelstein at the University of California, Santa Cruz, is also leading a four-year study to investigate risk factors and management strategies to ensure the condor’s long-term sustainability. This includes not only DDT but also poisoning that comes from ingesting lead-bullet fragments found in hunter-shot game. Lead poisoning was a major factor in the bird’s brush with extinction and remains the primary danger today to released condors.

Because of the lead poisoning problem, in 2008 California enacted legislation requiring hunters in condor country to use ammunition without lead.

Despite lead poisoning and the emerging DDT challenge, Mr. Burnett remains optimistic. He is hopeful that taking steps like capping the DDT-contaminated Montrose marine sediments as well as continuing research will provide solutions. He notes that in 1982 the population of California condors had been reduced to 22 birds. Although problems remain, bringing back the condor has been a conservation success story. There are now 380 California condors in the world, with about half of these titans of the sky flying free in the Western United States.

“There is a light at the end of the tunnel,” Mr. Burnett said. “We just don’t know how far out that light is.”

By JOHN MOIR
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/16/science/16condors.html?_r=2

New Hurdle for California Condors May Be DDT From Years Ago

BIG SUR, Calif. — Four years ago, in a musky, leaf-lined cavity halfway up a 200-foot redwood tree here, two California condors made the region’s first known nesting attempt in more than a century.

Joe Burnett, a senior wildlife biologist with the Ventana Wildlife Society and the lead biologist for the Central California condor recovery program, who had been monitoring the condor pair, was delighted with this promising development in the continuing effort to save the nation’s largest bird from extinction. When this first breeding attempt proved unsuccessful, Mr. Burnett attributed it to the young birds’ inexperience. But when he climbed the giant tree to examine the abandoned nest, he was stunned at what he uncovered: the first evidence of a potentially significant new hurdle for the condor program.

“The eggshell fragments we found appeared abnormally thin,” Mr. Burnett said. “They were so thin that we had to run tests to confirm that it was a condor egg.” The fragments reminded him of the thin-shelled eggs from birds like brown pelicans and peregrine falcons, which had been devastated by DDT but are now on the rebound.

The discovery raised a disturbing question: could DDT — the deadly pesticide that has been banned in the United States since 1972 — produce condor reproductive problems nearly four decades later?

To find out, the Ventana Wildlife Society, which manages the Central California condor releases, has collected as many subsequent wild-laid eggs as possible. The handful of Big Sur breeding pairs lay a single egg once every other year. Ventana biologists brave the region’s trackless terrain to exchange a wild-laid egg with one from the zoo-based captive-breeding program. The unsuspecting condor pair then hatches the substitute egg as if it is their own.

In addition, Ventana biologists began to look for possible sources of DDT. Condors are carrion eaters, and in recent years the Big Sur birds have turned to what was historically a major food source: marine mammals. Mr. Burnett now suspects that animals like California sea lions may present a hidden danger to condors. Even today, sea lion blubber contains high levels of DDE, a toxic metabolic breakdown product of DDT.

Ventana biologists have been comparing the thickness of the eggshells recovered from the Big Sur birds with those produced by the Southern California condor flock that lives many miles from the coast. The Southern California birds do not feed on marine mammals, and their eggs are normal. Mr. Burnett says that preliminary results from Ventana’s study suggest that the Big Sur eggs are “substantially thinner” than those from the inland birds, and that early indicators point to DDT as the principal cause of the thinning.

Although no known source of DDT exists near Big Sur, a large DDT hot spot in the marine sediments off the Southern California coast called the Palos Verdes Shelf has attracted Mr. Burnett’s attention because it is near a breeding ground for California sea lions that eat the area’s fish. The sea lions then migrate up the coast. Hundreds of these sea lions use a rocky beach near Big Sur as a stopping point on the trip north. In recent years, this sea lion “haul-out” has become a favorite feeding spot for the Big Sur condors.

The DDT that pollutes the Palos Verdes Shelf originated half a century ago with the Montrose Chemical Corporation. At the time, Montrose was the world’s largest producer of what was once hailed as a “miracle pesticide.” According to Carmen White, the Environmental Protection Agency’s remedial project manager for the site, in the 1950s and ’60s Montrose discharged its untreated DDT waste directly into the Los Angeles County Sanitation District’s sewer system. An estimated 1,700 tons of DDT settled onto the seabed, where it continues to contaminate Pacific Coast waters. The E.P.A. has declared the area a Superfund site, and Ms. White is coordinating a plan to cover the most contaminated parts with a cap of sand and silt in 2012.

According to David Witting, a fishery biologist for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, diet determines how DDT affects various species. By 1971, when local officials forced Montrose to stop its discharge, Dr. Witting said brown pelicans and other surface-feeding birds had been hit hard. The pelicans were feeding on small, DDT-contaminated fish that picked up the pesticide as it drifted to the surface near the sewer outfall.

Once Montrose stopped discharging DDT into the sewer, that contamination source disappeared. “Brown pelicans rebounded fairly quickly after the dumping stopped,” Dr. Witting said.

James Haas, the environmental contaminants program coordinator for the Pacific Southwest region of the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, noted that other birds in the region that feed higher on the food chain, like bald eagles, continue to suffer from DDT-induced eggshell thinning.

Concerns about condors and DDT have prompted the Fish and Wildlife Service to initiate a new one-year project to study how marine mammals might be carrying Montrose DDT up the California coast. The main investigator, Myra Finkelstein at the University of California, Santa Cruz, is also leading a four-year study to investigate risk factors and management strategies to ensure the condor’s long-term sustainability. This includes not only DDT but also poisoning that comes from ingesting lead-bullet fragments found in hunter-shot game. Lead poisoning was a major factor in the bird’s brush with extinction and remains the primary danger today to released condors.

Because of the lead poisoning problem, in 2008 California enacted legislation requiring hunters in condor country to use ammunition without lead.

Despite lead poisoning and the emerging DDT challenge, Mr. Burnett remains optimistic. He is hopeful that taking steps like capping the DDT-contaminated Montrose marine sediments as well as continuing research will provide solutions. He notes that in 1982 the population of California condors had been reduced to 22 birds. Although problems remain, bringing back the condor has been a conservation success story. There are now 380 California condors in the world, with about half of these titans of the sky flying free in the Western United States.

“There is a light at the end of the tunnel,” Mr. Burnett said. “We just don’t know how far out that light is.”

By JOHN MOIR
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/16/science/16condors.html?_r=2