Sentinel Warning: What may the birds be telling us?

In the past few months, I began reading with mild curiosity stories of odd bird behavior, ranging from the mass abandonment of nesting sites to pelicans mistaking Arizona asphalt for water. However, as more stories of mass bird failings continue to be reported, that mild curiosity has changed to real concern.

While most of these stories have spawned independent threads on ATS, I felt it important to aggregate them in a single place. When seeing these stories in a single place, you get the very real sense that something is seriously wrong.

I have also noticed many people mentioning changes in the frequency or appearance birds in their local communities. While anecdotal, I think it important to have a single place to post these stories as well.

If there are any birders out there, I think we’d like to hear what you might have to say.

Previous ATS bird posts:

www.abovetopsecret.com...
www.abovetopsecret.com...
www.abovetopsecret.com...
www.abovetopsecret.com...
www.abovetopsecret.com...
www.abovetopsecret.com...

On UK sea birds

news.independent.co.uk...

On Pigeons

seattlepi.nwsource.com...

On Pelicans

www.cnn.com...
www.usatoday.com...

On Herons

www.king5.com...
www.king5.com...
www.bellmuseum.org...

On Penguins.

www.sartma.com...
www.falklandsconservation.com...

On Chinese Finches.

www.metro.co.uk...

On Vultures

news.nationalgeographic.com...

On Flamingos

news.nationalgeographic.com...

On Florida Birds

www.heraldtribune.com.../20040702/NEWS/407020390/1270/NEWS0101

On Thai Birds

www.iht.com...

On Puffins...

www.exn.ca...

Other aquatic birds...

www.audubon.org...

On Wisconsin Bald Eagles...

www.northcountrytrail.org...

On Starlings....(german)

www.stuttgarter-zeitung.de...

Four years old, but interesting....

menura.cse.unsw.edu.au:64800...

Other disturbing, but anecdotal links….

animals.about.com...
fellowshipofchristianhunters.org...
www.louisianasportsman.com...
discussions.roanoke.com...
www.goosehuntingchat.com...
cincinnatibirds.com...
capemaytimes.com...
www.birdforum.net...

The magnetic field of Earth is changing.

Great job putting this all together. Thank you for creating one resource. However, after reviewing all of the links (other than the one in German which I can't read) it seems less of a mystery than before. Of all the stories it seems that the only somewhat "mysterious" incidents were with the vanishing pelicans, the suicidal pelicans (AZ) and lost pigeons. And even here other stories may provide insight, at least for the vanishing pelicans. For example the article on the vanishing herons in MN indicates that it is human disturbance that is displacing them - this is most likely the case in the ND pelican dissapearance.

Now the AZ pelicans divebombing the pavement and the lost pigeons do seem to be a bit of a mystery at this point. But the rest of the stories all have explanations or at least very viable theories and did you notice that in most of the explanations it is human interferance that is the culprit. Human's contributing to global warming, habitat destruction, pollution and intrusion.

I think the real mystery here is how can we be so oblivious to the damage we are causing to our ecosystem and what happened to green peace? Why aren't they all over this and pointing out that we are causing damage that can in the long term destroy our entire our entire ecosystem? There is a sentinel warning here but it has nothing to do with mysterious earth changes, it has to do with human impact and human initiated earth changes and damage.

I have been noticing a lot more agression from the ocean birds in my area. I live right on the coast and as a consequence have a lot of these birds around my house. In the past two months or so they have become distinctly louder and more agressive towards each other. Enough so that a few of us around have have commented on it.

extremely well said!! I think there may be a combination of factors in play, but the most obvious is human damage to our planet. It is truly sad that we aren't hearing more about this in the mainstream media. This is a huge warning, and it should be taken seriously.

While there may be other, environmental factors affecting some of these birds, they do rely on the earth's magnetic field for migration and maybe for homing in the case of the pigeons. I have read several articles recently on the fluctuations of the magnetic field and the possibility that it is about to 'flip' north to south some time soon ( maybe in the next few hundred years, which would be soon on the geological scale). That may have something to do with the problems the birds have been having. I haven't a link, but if you do a web search, you will probably find some of those articles.

Maybe green peace isn't all over this because it has nothing to do with our damage to the ecosystem. If the strange behaviour is caused by a reversal of the magnetic poles, that is something that has occured in the past - long before the human race damaged the eecosystem.

In the pasyear there were a few instances where I saw small bird attacking humans that came near their nests. Even though I allready knew this happened with big vicious birds, it is totally new to me that the smaller birds that are usually afraid of humans, do this as well.
Some actually fly right over your head when you walk near their nests, making weird noises.
I never saw it before.

Now that I have seen fairly often, recently in my own back yard when I pulled some vines that were growing near a cardinal's nest . Also when I was a kid, our neighbor had a daily attack from a mockingbird that had built a nest in a bush next to his back porch. The bird would actually hit him in the head, often knocking his hat off. I have also seen mockingbirds attack cats that get too close to their young.

frayed1,

Actually you have the right answer,

Birds are under more pressure than ever before due to agricultural intensification, climate change, growing demands for water, expansion of urban areas and transport infrastructure, and the over-exploitation of the seas.

Birth are very sensitive to change in the enviroment and will be the first ones to die if poison gas is to be released in the air.

I just found this rather interesting article which points out a different reason for the change in fish, water mammal and bird behavior.

"The world's oceans are sacrificing themselves to try to stave off global warming, a major international research programme has discovered.

Their waters have absorbed about half of the carbon dioxide emitted by human activities over the past two centuries, the 15-year study has found. Without this moderating effect, climate change would have been much more rapid and severe."

"The new study warns of an even more alarming collapse throughout the world's oceans if climate change continues. It is the result of a mammoth research effort, which has taken and analysed 72,000 samples of seawater from 10,000 different places in the oceans since 1989.

Led by scientists working for the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in Seattle, it has also involved teams of researchers from Australia, Canada, Spain, Japan, South Korea and Germany.

It has discovered, for the first time, that the seas and oceans have soaked up almost half of all human emissions of carbon dioxide, the main cause of global warming, since the start of the Industrial Revolution."

news.independent.co.uk...

It is true that it is believed that some birds do depend on magnetism for navigation. This helps them find their way while migrating and may have something to do with why the pigeons got lost or even why the pelicans in AZ chose to dive bomb the pavement. However these seem to be the only sotries listed here that may have something to do with changes in the earths magnetic field. All the other stories have to do with birds dying, failing to re-produce and "vanishing" or abandoning their nests. None of these would be caused by changes in the magnetic field and in fact, in most of the stories they theorize (or even know) that these things were the results of poison, red tide, rising water temperatures and global warming. Remember that magnatism only guids these birds - it doesn't initiate migration, it is only a compase that my get them lost.

If you read all of the articles, the majority of them include explanations and they are primairly poison (due to mans pollution), red tide due to warming waters - due to mans pollution, as well as some possible bird flu. None of these stories seem to imply that the problem has anything to do with magnatism except possibly the lost pigeons and the suicidal pelicans in AZ.

Greetings to all -
I'm new here, but saw the thread and had to respond. My wife is an animal trainer and has been for many years. One of her specialties is birds. She shows me articles similar to the various postings here and explains a lot of things to me in laymen's terms. One of her biggest concerns, as with a lot of 'animal people', is not some silly explanation about the magnetic poles although that's much more fun to believe. The simple reason is more pathetic and has been stated quite clearly in the above postings. It's us. It's people.
There're just too many of us anymore and we really don't see the slowly harmful, small things that are and will continue to happen for many decades to come. We're encroaching on animals territories and it's really upsetting a lot of little minute balances that were clicking along pretty well up to this point.
Birds are mentioned specifically here, but it's not just our feathered friends. Look up articles on bears, mountain lions, cheetahs and leopards for similar instances. Animals have an instinct to survive and will adapt to meet the continuance of their species. It's natural. Bears found out long ago that people in cars mean free food. Cheetah cubs are learning it's easier to kill a ranchers baby goat than to run down a meal. Mountain lion cubs are slowly and eerily learning that small humans and family pets are easy prey. In South America, the frighteningly large Harpy Eagles are called 'baby snatchers' by the locals because they've come to learn that it's extremely easier to grab a baby from a carriage than it is to chase fast-moving prey.
If you're not in the field or not familiar with a certain subject you'll always tend to form whatever kind of fanciful hypothesis you desire. It's when you're an expert or specialist in a particular field that you actually understand what's happening in a realistic perspective.
It's just a sad fact that we, just like the animals, have to survive also. We're not smarter, we just like money and know how to lay concrete faster.
Thanks for the interesting topic,
Coatimundi

Coatimundi - thanks for that added insight. I think due to the nature of this board (conspiracy buffs) we like to look for the big mystery in many things. However, because most of us here seem to be fairly intelligent and we are supposed to be commited to "deny ignorance" it is important that we not get swept up in sensationalism and look at the real cause of things. As I said before, there is a warning here, there is even a great conspiracy - however, it is not some prophetic earth change at work here - it is a conspiracy unwhitingly perpetrated by all developed nations and people. It is our demand for more, bigger, better, faster with little regard for nature that is the problem and sadly we are the conspirators.

badkitty has touched on many of the points I would have said. If there is any mystery its how we've become so blinded and ignorant. We've let ourselves destroy ourselves basically. The birds are just confirming that point and if we don't do a complete 360 soon we're done for. Anyone here read the Ingenuity Gap? great book touching on a bunch of real life issues. Basically the book says that the gap between ingenuity and the demand for it is ever increasing.

don't underestimate the effects of all these HAARP experiments; they have been using unprecedented levels of energy lately.

I honestly think that all of this wackiness will cease after sunspot 652 disapaits. That sunspot creates great interference in Earths Magnetic field.

Disappearance of Eels Worldwide Puzzles Scientists



www.npr.org...

Hi folks
I just registered with ATS yesterday and was fumbling my way around this fab site when I tumbled across this thread. I hope you don't mind me throwing my two-cents worth into the discussion.
I'm no expert on the migratory habits of birds, but we have a large garden which has lots of things that attract most garden birds and my wife who subscribes to RSPB, makes sure there is plenty of food (nuts, seed, etc) around to keep our visitors happy.
On the question of birds (pigeons in particular) navigating by magnetic or similar forces: a recent series of experiments would suggest that this is largely an old wives tale. Miniature cameras were strapped to a number of pigeons and it was discovered that the birds, contrary to popular belief appeared to use visual aids in finding their way home. For example, travelling in line with major roads and then veering off to the home site.
With respect to birds dying or acting strangely, then I have to concur with a number of posters and admit that it is human activity which interferes with what nature provides our feathered friends. The wholesale loss of habitat reduces numbers and creates confusion and unfortunately this problem will increase as more and more habitat is converted to housing estates. But the good news is that even the smallest, unlikeliest of gardens or backyards will be adopted by birds if they can be attracted into it. Plant a tree or buy a bag of peanuts.
Goodness, I appear to be sounding off. My apologies if it appears to be so.
Regards