Bird mystery: Thousands disappear and abandon eggs, nests on island off Florida's Gulf Coast

a reply to: Vasa Croe

Doig said some of the Seahorse birds seem to have moved to a nearby island, but they're just a fraction of the tens of thousands of birds that would normally be nesting on the key right now.

OK, that's just weird. Seems like it must be something related to the exact location they were previously, since they moved to a nearby island. The environment, food and water sources would be virtually the same. What a mystery.

There's nothing wrong with the birds and it's not a sign of some catastrophic event coming, birds will follow the food source, if there's no food to feed themselves or chicks they will abandon their eggs and search for a new spot with food then lay more eggs there.

Somthing has happend in the water to repel the fish.

Whether its a bird issue or a fish issue or water issue notwithstanding, any time nature stops being natural you have to take notice because something is wrong. You cant have a large disruption to just one part of an ecosystem. It affects the whole system. It will be interesting to see where this goes. I hope it goes back where it belongs.

Well I would say something is effecting their habitat. Depending on what type of bird it is, and what they tend to feed on could shed a lot of light on the reason for the disappearance. I lean more to the fact that the Gulf is becoming more and more polluted, making the Gulf a dead zone. We are living in very strange times, with humans making changes to the very ecosystems that feed us. I give humanity another century if that, before something really goes off, like genetic mutations and over population forces Humans to do unthinkable acts to keep our species alive

originally posted by: NeoSpace
There's nothing wrong with the birds and it's not a sign of some catastrophic event coming, birds will follow the food source, if there's no food to feed themselves or chicks they will abandon their eggs and search for a new spot with food then lay more eggs there.

Somthing has happend in the water to repel the fish.

I would agree, except all of the biologists there are saying all the islands birds use the same freshwater resources. As in, even though they switched islands, they are still fishing in the same ponds.

Still thinking it was some kind of an event.

To find answers, service biologists have been acting on the few clues they have.

First, they tested left-behind bird carcasses for disease or contaminants. Those tests came back negative.

Next, they researched possible new predators. Did raccoons swim over from another island? Perhaps some great horned owls flew out at night and started feasting?

Traps caught a few raccoons, which is common, but not enough to have created a wholesale abandonment. There were no telltale signs of owls.

Finally, Doig said, recent years have seen an increase in night flights over the area by surveillance planes and helicopters used to combat drug runners. Although the planes' noise could be disruptive, Doig admits it's a longshot.

www.usnews.com...

a reply to: Vasa Croe

All that Corexit crap maybe having knock-on effects? I know that was a while ago but perhaps it has taken a while to work its way up the food chain?

originally posted by: angeldoll

Still thinking it was some kind of an event.

To find answers, service biologists have been acting on the few clues they have.

First, they tested left-behind bird carcasses for disease or contaminants. Those tests came back negative.

Next, they researched possible new predators. Did raccoons swim over from another island? Perhaps some great horned owls flew out at night and started feasting?

Traps caught a few raccoons, which is common, but not enough to have created a wholesale abandonment. There were no telltale signs of owls.

Finally, Doig said, recent years have seen an increase in night flights over the area by surveillance planes and helicopters used to combat drug runners. Although the planes' noise could be disruptive, Doig admits it's a longshot.

www.usnews.com...

Well.....it would have to be some kind of event I think. Whatever happened it ran 10's of thousands of birds off the island.

originally posted by: Urantia1111
a reply to: Vasa Croe

All that Corexit crap maybe having knock-on effects? I know that was a while ago but perhaps it has taken a while to work its way up the food chain?

Not sure if something like that would be causing this as they have said in the articles that it isn't contamination related, nor does it seem to be food source related from a couple of the articles saying that the islands where a few of the birds have moved use the same food sources.

a reply to: Vasa Croe

I know there are a lot of naysayers on ATS. Just search the term "mass animal deaths" on your preferred search engine. There is no denying at this point what is happening. It's been happening for years. If you think about it, how long can it continue before most people start dying that live on the Earth now? Albert Einstein even said that 4 years without bees would be the doom of humanity. If you search and click on the links, you will be able to figure it out. There's nothing besides the search results that indicate the truth about what is happening. If people can't see what's happening after searching, then let them believe what they want to. Humanity cannot fix this problem. It will never happen. Some scientists say this is another "extinction event" happening. If people want to believe that, then have at it! Humanity will not be able to figure this problem out. The only link I'm going to provide is this:

www.end-times-prophecy.org...

If that doesn't speak loud enough, then good luck on figuring it out. There have been close to 500 groups of mass animal deaths in 2015 alone! I predict that humanity will never solve this problem. If people want a solution, then read the link above closely. Even that won't ever help solve what's happening, but at least it will explain and give people a direction to look. The naysayers can say what they will, but this is the final straw. I don't need any more questions answered. I'm not scared. What will happen will happen, and nobody can do anything about it. As fast as all of this is happening, go ahead and try to fix it humanity! Humans can never save the world. It's going to take a Power much greater than anything here, or anything that humans can create.

a reply to: InFriNiTee

But they haven't found 20K dead birds, so it is not related to a mass die off. While those have happened, this isn't one of them, at least not at this point.

a reply to: Vasa Croe

ha, but I'm thinking something along the lines of the loud helicopters/planes, or perhaps seismic activity, rumbling that shook or scared them, a methane release, or something of that nature. If it's not the food, water, or predators
then what the hell could have caused them to get so scared they abandoned their eggs? It didn't seem to be a creeping threat, but one big ... thing.... or event - if you will.

*while I was looking at that little Ocala newspaper, I saw another article about a five year old girl who was killed when a sturgeon jumped out of the water (Suwamme River) and hit her in the boat she was traveling in with her parents. : ( Then a couple of days later the same thing happened to two guys in the nearby SantaFe River, only they were not killed, but air lifted to a hospital. (Off topic, just a bit of news) : )

Anyway! Lets hope the causation is determined quickly and it's nothing permanently damaging. I hate the words "dead zone".

a reply to: Vasa Croe
This sounds awful,I hope its not a permanent thing.
My first guess would have been a depletion in a common food source-I.E. sea life,but if that has been ruled out my next guess is that it could be related to some kind of magnetic anomaly,as many birds are wired to follow the earths magnetic field during migration.
Maybe a change in the magnetosphere has given the birds a cue to leave en masse.
Is there a way to check the magnetosphere over the island?
That could lead to clues.

Final guess-could a predator species have moved on to the island,and scared the birds away?

First I've heard of this and I have family on that side of Florida...I will do some asking around and see what I hear. Over in Orlando its business as usual though. That kinda stuff makes me nervous too...

originally posted by: Silcone Synapse
a reply to: Vasa Croe
This sounds awful,I hope its not a permanent thing.
My first guess would have been a depletion in a common food source-I.E. sea life,but if that has been ruled out my next guess is that it could be related to some kind of magnetic anomaly,as many birds are wired to follow the earths magnetic field during migration.
Maybe a change in the magnetosphere has given the birds a cue to leave en masse.
Is there a way to check the magnetosphere over the island?
That could lead to clues.

Final guess-could a predator species have moved on to the island,and scared the birds away?

Well...there was this thread a few days ago....

www.abovetopsecret.com...

The mind spins with possibilities... none good.

Best case scenario? A very good bird salesman talked them all into a time-share in Mexico...

a reply to: Vasa Croe
Hmm,That would maybe effect all birds everywhere though,and this seems a localised event.
Its still disturbing.

I don't want to mention the N word...
No not that one-

NIBIRU.

Only kidding.

maybe all these years of hundreds of leaking drill holes in the gulf are finally polluting Florida waters ....every time I order seafood I always ask where it came from, if it came from the gulf, I'll order something different

originally posted by: jimmyx
maybe all these years of hundreds of leaking drill holes in the gulf are finally polluting Florida waters ....every time I order seafood I always ask where it came from, if it came from the gulf, I'll order something different

I would have thought the same, but apparently they ruled out contamination of any kind.

originally posted by: Silcone Synapse
a reply to: Vasa Croe
Hmm,That would maybe effect all birds everywhere though,and this seems a localised event.
Its still disturbing.

I don't want to mention the N word...
No not that one-

NIBIRU.

Only kidding.

Yeah....I would think something along the lines of what that thread talked about would be global, not just a single island in the Gulf.

Nibiru....nice!