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Well, this is what a red-wing looks like when it's alive...

As you're reading this, odds are that you already know of the significant "die off" of blackbirds in Arkansas... But that's not the entire story... Check out the following from AFP:

The second unexplained mass bird death within a week has been discovered in the southern United States, this time in the state of Louisiana, officials said Tuesday.

The latest incident affected some 500 birds which were discovered dead in Pointe Coupee Parish, said Olivia Watkins of the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries.

Watkins said an investigation was underway into the cause of the deaths, which occurred just a few days after thousands of birds were discovered dead in neighboring Arkansas.

"We sent samples to a lab in Missouri and are waiting to get some results," she said.

Nancy Ledbetter at the Arkansas Game & Fish Commission said officials in that state were awaiting test results to find the cause of death of as many as 5,000 blackbirds in the small town of Beebe as well as deaths of 80,000 to 100,000 fish found floating in the Arkansas River about 160 kilometers (100 miles) away.

That's not good. Regardless of whether each case is related to the others or not, that's still not good. While I don't believe in UFOs or other foolishness, I do believe in "nature talking"... I say that we keep a close eye on this one...

Antsy by the feeders...

CapeCodAlan

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Posted by CapeCodAlan at 10:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Man, have we got an interesting one for you today! There we were last night, watching a cheesy movie when arghhh! What on earth was that sound? I grabbed the little Mino Flip camera and stuck it in a screened window and let it just record. Obviously, there was no video to speak of, but the mic still worked. Later, a little creativity stripped the audio out of the recording and turned it into the following MP3...

Is that creepy or what?

I'm thinking that's the sound of a couple of muskrats fighting. I say this because the racket sort of mimics this. I know, I know... the sounds are different. But listen in the background for the "cooing". My guess is that the difference in the main has to do with fighting vs. courting etc. Mrs. CCA on the other hand wonders about possums, martens, or maybe a fisher cat. Both of us have searched the Web for those possible Steven Tylers of the natural world that could have produced such a caterwaul. We've listened to owls, foxes, raccoons, flying squirrels... all for naught.

Anywho, that's quite an unnerving racket for 10:44 PM on a Sunday. I've only heard that a couple times before, and it offers a real impetus to double check the locks on the doors.

I'll keep you posted on this one. And should anybody out there know what sort of beastie would have the pipes for this sort of thing, please let us all know!

Shaken by the feeders,

CapeCodAlan

P.S. Remind me sometime, and I'll re-tell you the true tale of the night the wife and I ran across the "Beast From Hinkley's Pond"!

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Posted by CapeCodAlan at 2:05 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)