When the huge invasion of snowy owls began this winter, was it wrong for us to feel delight? These beautiful raptors from the arctic tundra do not often show up on the American East Coast, after all. But the sheer number of snowy owls should have been a warning, both to the owls themselves and to our sense of wonder.
In the Vatican earlier today, two peace doves were viciously attacked by a crow and a seagull when they were set free by Pope Francis from a window at Apostolic Palace. We've spent countless years of our precious time on this planet debating over whether evil would triumph over good, whether the Dementors would eventually find us, and if birds—despite our blame in their pitiful helplessness—were actually hotblooded, malevolent predators searching fiendishly to corrupt their own.
In normal times, the arctic bird of prey known as the Snowy Owl stays up north, feasting upon the flesh of lemmings. But these are not normal times, so the owls have come south with the terrible arctic weather. "They are just absolutely everywhere and there's a lot more coming," says an expert who knows about the owls.
Waddle over, Birdemic — there's an even lower rent Birds homage in town.
According to the New York Times, a human newspaper definitely not written by birds, one cool thing that humans like to do nowadays is build giant bird nests to sleep in. Walking to a neighbor's house instead of flying there, eating normal human food besides seeds, and constructing humongous bird nests out of twigs— all things we humans do so often we don't even have to remind ourselves constantly to check and make sure we're doing them so as not to draw attention to ourselves.
Yesterday, we learned that your cat could, in fact, suffer from a mental illness. Today, we learn that, mental illness or not, cats are responsible for killing an insane number of birds and small mammals each year. According to a report from the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute and the Fish and Wildlife Service, cats kill an average of 2.4 billion birds and 12.3 billion small mammals a year.
Here is something you probably didn't know could happen to your human baby: feathers growing out of its neck.
Wow, #smh.
Where do birds go during a storm? I wonder.
British people whose only friends are birds are freaking out this summer, as hundreds of their cherished pets are disappearing somewhere over England and no one can figure out what is happening to them or how to make friends with a human.
Here's a video of two penguins — Pete and Penny — chilling in first class on a flight from Atlanta to New York, where they were guests at the premiere of Discovery Channel's documentary Frozen Planet. I'm thinking there are two joke possibilities here: something about "flightless birds" and something about how of course penguins would be in first class; they're always wearing tuxedos. Mostly, though, I think all planes should have penguins. [via Yahoo]
If you are a barred owl and you can understand these words, know this: your days are numbered.
Chimp research! Bird safety! Nemo extinction! Raptor claws! Rat acid! Alkali oceans! Lemur meat! Dolphin jetpack! And real talk words of wisdom about our current chemistry debates! It's your Thursday Science Watch, where we watch science—with compassion!
Oklahoma got hit by a record-breaking 5.6-magnitude earthquake last night—its second in as many days—and while there were no injuries or major damages, it could be felt as far away as Wisconsin. And as if two earthquakes in Oklahoma wasn't end-days enough, here's a video from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. That big green splotch? That's all the birds and bugs in the area taking to wing in numbers so big they got picked up by the radar. [NewsOK, radar graphics via NOAA]
