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26 minutes ago, Stan said:

Yeah that's just ridiculously insane. Superb photo footage, that.

This is quite cool too.

 

Absolutely incredible how organized they are. In the last few days we had swarms of Cranes passing by, who are relocating to the south of Europe for the winter. It's absolutely fascinating to watch those swarms, and to see how organized and smart they are in the way they travel. 

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Dancing starling spectacle caused power cuts in a Scottish village

VIDEO

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An engineer investigating mystery power outages in a Scottish village has discovered they were caused by a spectacular murmuration of starlings.

Villagers in Airth, near Falkirk, were bewildered by the brief early-evening interruptions to their power supply.

Initially, power firm SP Energy Networks was also unable to explain the problem.

But their engineer Neil McDonald finally solved the mystery when he spotted thousands of birds "dancing" on overhead power cables.

The starlings were causing the lines to bounce and the power to trip between them, causing power cuts off just a few minutes in about 50 local homes.

Mr McDonald captured the spectacle on his phone.

"It was a mass aerial stunt by these amazing birds and in all my 14 years working for SP Energy Networks, I have never seen anything like it," Mr McDonald said.

"For all the birds looked small, the sheer number of them caused the wires to bounce up and down as they danced on and off - there are actually three wires between those poles and when they clash together, the power will go off for around 10 seconds or so at a time.

"That's what's been happening quite frequently, with some of these clashes causing wider damage and longer outages."

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He said the firm would work with RSPB Scotland to find ways to discourage the birds from the power lines.

It could involve playing loud noises - like the sound of a predator sparrowhawk - to put them off roosting in a specific location.

"We've successfully managed to move on roosting geese in the past so hopefully our starling community can be encouraged to safely relocate somewhere that doesn't impact our power supplies, and local communities, quite so much," he added.

Ross Galbraith, SP Energy Networks district general manager, said: "It's completely breath-taking to watch, although not something we've ever experienced before.

"There have been several unexplained outages around dusk in recent weeks but given the work we've been doing to make sure our network is resilient ahead of winter, we haven't been able to get to the bottom of it until now."

816

Murmurations of starlings see huge numbers of the birds swoop and dive in unison.

They group together for safety, to keep warm at night, and to exchange information such as good feeding areas.

They gather over their roosting site and perform their stunts before they roost for the night.

Toby Wilson, of RSPB Scotland, said starling murmurations are becoming rarer as bird numbers decline due to loss of habitat and changing farming techniques.

"Obviously, we recognise the need to maintain energy networks and hope the birds can be sensitively encouraged to relocate to a suitable, nearby site," he added. "We are happy to work with SP Energy Networks to advise on this."

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-tayside-central-55334891

 

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12 hours ago, Bluewolf said:

Nature is cruel.... Makes you want to go in there drag that fucker out by its tail and make half a dozen handbags and a pair of shoes out it... 

To be fair, big cats torture animals before they eat them, atleast Crocs go straight for the neck. That's one positive, it was over quickly.

Shocking footage either way as it's the first time I've ever seen a croc take a predator like that. In fact it's horrible when a predator becomes prey as it somewhat doesn't feel right. Especially when those Orcas are killing Great White Sharks at an alarming rate. They only eat the livers too. 

Edited by Carnivore Chris
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Our son in the kitchen making himself some toast & a coffee turned around and saw the local squirrel looking at him through the flat window, these squirrels climb up the wall and sit on our 2nd floor flat window looking for some nosh, I got some nuts that I always put out for them, that should keep he/she happy until they come back for more. :D

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IMG-20210108-WA0002.thumb.jpg.4b83fd95fc23c81300615ae2ca942f51.jpg

 

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Zooming in on the hidden world of invertebrates

An environmental scientist shares photos from the field.

210109_Dragon-springtails.jpg

Dragon springtails (pictured) are widely distributed in forests of eastern Australia — yet they’re still largely unknown to science. Credit: Nick Porch, Author provided

By Nick Porch from Deakin University

Which animals are quintessentially Australian? Koalas and kangaroos, emus, tiger snakes and green tree frogs, echidnas and eastern rosellas, perhaps. And let’s not forget common wombats.

Inevitably, most lists will be biased to the more conspicuous mammals and birds, hold fewer reptiles and frogs, and likely lack invertebrates — animals without a backbone or bony skeleton — altogether.

I’m an invertophile, fascinated by our rich terrestrial invertebrate fauna, so my list will be different. I’m enchanted by stunning dragon springtails, by cryptic little Tasmanitachoides beetles, and by the poorly known allothyrid mites, among thousands of others.

Australia’s terrestrial invertebrate multitude contains several hundred thousand uniquely Australian organisms. Most remain poorly known.

To preserve our biodiversity, we first must ask: “which species live where?”. For our invertebrates, we are a long way from knowing even this.

The Black Summer toll

Last year, a team of scientists estimated that the Australian 2019-2020 bushfires killed, injured or displaced three billion animals. That was a lot. But it was also a woefully inadequate estimate because it only accounted for mammals, reptiles, birds and frogs.

Hidden from view, many trillions of more invertebrates burned or were displaced by the fires. And yes, invertebrates are animals too.

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A mite from the family Bdellidae (on the right) has captured a springtail and is using its piercing mouthparts to suck it dry. Mites and springtails are among the most abundant animals on the planet. Nick Porch, Author provided

FULL REPORT

 

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