5000 birds crash land in a car park - 1500 die

1,500 Waterbirds Killed in Bizarre Incident in Utah

December 2011. Officials in Utah are puzzled by the death of about 1,500 Eared Grebes that were killed, possibly as a result of confusing a Wal-Mart parking lot in Cedar City, USA, with a body of water and landing on the asphalt during a storm. An additional 3,500 grebes, apparently dazed and confused, were rounded up through the night by hand by volunteers and staff of the Utah Department of Wildlife, and eventually released into a nearby lake.

It appears that a storm and associated cloud cover was a key factor in causing the birds' confusion, as well as a glistening parking lot surface that may have looked like a water body in conditions of poor visibility.

Grebes can only land and take off on water
According to American Bird Conservancy (ABC), the nation's leading bird conservation organization, several traits of this bird likely played a role in this incident. Grebes are only able to land and take off from water so a shimmering parking lot on a stormy night may have looked like a natural landing area. The Eared Grebe carries out the latest fall migration of any bird species in North America, putting it in this storm at a time when other migrating birds have already arrived south. The Eared grebe only migrates at night, which increases the risk of the bird getting confused by city lighting and cloud cover.

"Night-flying birds use dim light from the moon and stars and the earth's magnetic field for navigation. Adverse conditions may have caused the same kind of disorientation that can afflict pilots in fog - the birds may have flown directly into the ground, not realizing they were descending. Urban lights attract and confuse birds, so when you bring the storm into play, I think this is a serious possibility," said Dr. Christine Sheppard, Bird Collision Program Director for ABC.


"However, we will probably never know for sure exactly what happened, so it may be very hard to know if it is something that can be mitigated. Large kills of night-migrating birds are unfortunately not unusual, and are generally related to man-made light sources-from spotlights to cell phone towers. Even light from office windows, street lights, and decorative lighting can attract birds to land in cities, where they are at high risk of colliding with glass on buildings as they try to feed the next day. Reducing unnecessary lighting can reduce this type of mortality, but in the case of the grebes, we simply don't know if they took tarmac for a body of water or lost orientation," Sheppard said.

Eared grebes

Eared Grebes are the most abundant grebe in the world. They breed in shallow wetlands in western North America. The Eared Grebe occurs in greatest numbers on Mono Lake and the Great Salt Lake in fall, where it doubles its weight in preparation for a nonstop flight to its wintering grounds in the southwestern United States and Mexico. It is a small waterbird – about 9-12 inches long – with a wingspan of about 23 inches. The bird’s diet consists of mostly aquatic insects and crustaceans, occasionally tadpoles, small frogs, and small fish.
http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/eared-grebe.html

Dog shoots hunter in buttocks (via RIck)

BRIGHAM CITY, Utah - Authorities in Utah said a hunter was wounded in the buttocks when his dog jumped on a 12-gauge shotgun, causing the weapon to fire a round of birdshot. Box Elder County Sheriff's Chief Deputy Kevin Potter said two duck hunters were at the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge preparing for a day of hunting Sunday morning when the incident took place, The Salt Lake Tribune reported Thursday. "One of the hunters was inside the boat with the dog, and the other hunter was in the water setting up decoys," Potter said. "The guy in the water had put his 12-gauge shotgun across the bow of their boat." "The dog got excited, was jumping around inside the boat and then it jumped on the gun. It went off, shooting the (decoy setter) in the buttocks," Potter said. Potter said the man was taken to the Brigham City Community Hospital around 9 a.m. and released after doctors removed the birdshot from his posterior. The chief deputy said there were no other injuries to their hunters or the dog.

Eagle brings down paraglider over Himalayas

Incredible footage from a helmet camera shows the moment two eagles attacked a paraglider over the Himalayas only for one to become tangled in the cables, causing both bird and man to come crashing down to earth.

Vladimir Tsar'kov was paragliding over the Indian Himalayas when the two birds of prey swooped, one flying below him and the other continuing up into his parachute and becoming entangled.

With his chute rendered ineffective, the 25-year-old Russian was forced to deploy his reserve parachute as he struggled to regain a modicum of control and began to plummet to the ground.

Fortunately the experienced thrillseeker had the skill to bring himself down in a clearing, although he did not come to a complete halt until he had been dragged him through some uncomfortable looking undergrowth.

After confirming his own wellbeing, Mr Tsar'kov turned his attention to the still trapped eagle.

It took him nearly ten minutes to untangle the bird, which then flew off apparently unscathed.

The Himalayas are popular with paragliders and flights often take place close to the eagles, which gliders use to guide them to columns of warm air that help them soar higher.

Read on ...

Eel swims up man's penis

A Chinese man who tried a beauty treatment for bathing with live eels was left in agony - when one slipped up his penis.

Vain Zhang Nan, 56, had been told bathing with eels would make him look years younger because they nibbled off layers of dead skin.

So he bought ten from a local market, in the city of Honghu, Hubei Province, and decided to give it a try at home.

But one of the 6in long elvers squirmed up his urethra and swam right into his bladder.

He needed a three-hour operation to remove the eel - by which time it was dead.

Zhang said: "I climbed in the bath and could feel the eels nibbling my body, then I felt a severe pain.
"I tried to grab the eel to pull it out again but it was too slippery and disappeared."

Initially, he was too embarrassed to seek help but when the eel didn't reappear naturally he went to the Wuhan People's Hospital.

Doctors used an ultrascan to locate the eel in Zhang's bladder and operated to remove it.

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

Drunk Moose Gets Stuck in Tree

The silly moose suffered the fate of many an intoxicated human after a night of heavy drinking - and found himself in a very embarrassing predicament.

Police believe the inebriated elk got into a state after eating fermented apples, and got stuck while trying to reach fruit higher up the tree.

The binge-drinking beast somehow managed to wedge itself into the branches of the tree with all four legs off the ground.

Fire crews had to chop down the tree to help free the animal from the branches.

By Alex Pielak, Metro.co.uk
Read more: http://www.metro.co.uk/weird/874733-moose-drunk-on-apples-gets-stuck-in-tree#ixzz1XMPsaZzX

Rescuers step up for cow rescue

Animal experts have rescued a cow which got its head stuck in a ladder.

Members of the public raised the alarm after spotting the Belgian Blue bullock in difficulty in a field near Troon, Ayrshire.

Rescuers from the Scottish SPCA eased the ladder off the cow's head and it was returned to the herd unharmed after the incident last month.

It is not known how the ladder came to be in the field, which is on the Troon to Barassie road.

Inspector Kerry Kirkpatrick said: "When the job came through my first thought was, this is a wind up, but I arrived at the field to find the cow looking confused but surprisingly calm despite having his head wedged tightly in between the rungs of the ladder.

"The farmer's family rounded up the whole herd into a holding pen and we managed to gently pull the ladder off the cow's head.

"The farmer had no idea how the ladder ended up in his field as he only recently took on the lease for the land.

"It may have been used to patch up a hole in the fence or it could have fallen off a passing van or lorry. Either way, it's a rescue I won't forget in a while."

http://news.uk.msn.com/uk/rescuers-step-up-for-cow-rescue

Squirrel knocks WIS off the air

COLUMBIA, SC (WIS) - A sneaky squirrel knocked WIS off the air Wednesday morning during the 6 o'clock hour of the morning news.


The power in and around downtown Columbia went out around 6:15 a.m. WIS meteorologist Ben Tanner was in the middle of his weather forecast when the surge caused everything to flicker and shut down at the WIS studios.

Our generators kicked in right away, but several of the computers in the building had to be reset. After a couple of minutes, Susan-Elizabeth Littlefield was back on the air.

SCE&G says a squirrel made its way to an area where is shouldn't have been and caused a problem with one of their breakers.

There is no word on the condition of the squirrel.

By Jason Old, New Media Content Director
http://www.wistv.com/story/15202079/squirrel-knocks-wis-off-the-air

Black bear, Florida bicyclist collide

PANAMA CITY, Florida - A Panama City man is recovering after colliding with a black bear while riding his bike to work.

John Hearn said he saw something out of the corner of his eye early Thursday morning. The nearly 300-pound bear smacked him off his bicycle and then fled into some nearby woods. Passing motorists stopped to help Hearn, who sustained minor injuries. The back tire of his bike was also ripped off. Hearn, who bikes to work at Tyndall Air Force Base a few times a week, said he still plans to bike to work.

Meanwhile, Florida's top expert on black bears calls the whole incident extremely unusual.

David Telesco, the state's Black Bear Management Program coordinator, says there are scores of vehicle crashes with bears in Florida every year, but collisions with people are very rare.


"Vehicle strikes are unfortunately somewhat common. In a typical year we get about 150, but actually hitting a person is very rare. The only incident I know of with an accident like that was in Ft. Myers in 2009. A bear ran into a woman who was outside of her place of business. It's just very rare to occur like that."

Bears may pose a danger to people if they stumble upon the animal's food or babies, but Telesco says unprovoked bear attacks have not been reported in Florida.

"We have never had an unprovoked or predatory attack on a person. People have been hurt by bears. Unfortunately it's situations where the bear is defending food or its young, but we've had people feeding bears and they've been swatted."

Florida's black bear population is estimated around 3,000. Increasing development has increased the odds that people will cross the paths of bears. They are large and powerful, but typically shy.

Telesco says one of the best ways to minimize contact with them is to make sure you don't have any trash lying around your yard.

"The number one thing that attracts bears is garbage and if the garbage is not available for bears to access, they have no reason to hang around our neighborhoods."
http://www.wtsp.com/news/article/200596/19/Black-bear-Florida-bicyclist-collide