Mysterious Mass Migration of Birds

[Hilander]

Mystery surrounds the mass migration of thousands of little blue herons, roseate spoonbills, snowy egrets, pelicans and other chattering birds which abruptly left a Florida island.

The din created by thousands of nesting birds is usually the first thing you notice about Seahorse Key, a 150-acre mangrove-covered dune off Florida's Gulf Coast.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...-island-left-eggs-nests-scattered-ground.html

They have no idea why these birds just left abandoning nests and eggs. They can't find anything out of the ordinary that may have caused this. Very puzzling, hope they get to the bottom of it and the birds return.

Any thoughts on why this many have happened?

 

[The_Chameleon]

For some time now the magnetic poles of the Earth have been drifting. As they do so the magnetic field surrounding the Earth, which protects us from solar radiation, has been weakening. This phenomena has likely reached a point where it is impacting the migratory habits of birds and other animals which naturally sense this field and use it to aid in navigation. Another possible culprit may be contaminants in the environment at levels too low to concern scientists. Subtle seismic activity may also have signaled the possible approach of a quake.



- Cham

 

[Hilander]

Would it cause them just to abandon their eggs though? This only happened at this one place. If it was something like that looks like it would be more widespread.

I thought once maybe someone in a helicopter could have done this. Still you would think they would go back when they left.

 

[The_Chameleon]

I'm thinking seismic activity. When subterranean rock is under stress and ready to fracture, it gives off a small electromagnetic signal which animals can sense. If the birds did get such a signal, they would indeed abandon their nests for fear of an impending quake. A careful looksee at the data from nearest seismic monitoring stations for the period in question would confirm or debunk this theory.


- Cham

 

[Hilander]

That could be it, they looked at several causes but seismic activity wasn't mentioned. Looks like if that was it they would have returned by now. We have had earthquakes here but it didn't run all the birds off for months.

 

[The_Chameleon]

Another possible explanation could be abarant solar activity making their magnetic sense go all wonky and sending them into a panic. Generally if animals abandon a breeding location for a long period it is due to some kind of unusual environmental change, often contamination of some kind. I seem to recall (vaguely) a similar incident involving sea lions a while back. Their usual migration habits suddenly changed for a year or two, then they came back to their usual haunt.


- Cham

 

[Hilander]

Something big had to have happened to cause so many to leave. Hope someday we find out why they did this.