One of the claims about “global climate change” is that it will affect the normal ranges of flora and fauna of our planet. Well, with a very cold northern hemisphere this winter, that seems to happening. A bird not seen (as a mature adult) in Massachusetts since the 1800’s , an Ivory Gull, normally an inhabitant of arctic areas, has been spotted. Here are the details from the Plymouth, MA Patriot-Ledger. – Anthony
GULL-LOVER’S TRAVELS: Birdwatchers flock to Plymouth to spot rare specimen
PLYMOUTH — Jan 28th, 2009
The temperatures were in the single digits, but not low enough to keep the gawkers away. A celebrity was in town, behind the East Bay Grille, a visitor not seen in these parts in decades, if not longer.
But these weren’t paparazzi, and this wasn’t a Hollywood star. Rather, they were avid birdwatchers – about 20 in all – braving the frigid air as they scanned the bay and the edges of the breakwater with binoculars and spotting scopes.
And they would be rewarded, catching a glimpse of a glimpse of a rare, fully mature ivory gull. A birdwatcher reported seeing one in Plymouth last week, and another was spotted at Eastern Point Lighthouse in Gloucester. From Sunday through Tuesday, the avian visitor was a regular in Plymouth, much to the delight of birdwatchers, who came from near and far in hopes of adding the extremely rare bird to their life list.
Ivory gulls normally stay well above Newfoundland, living on Arctic ice where they follow whales and polar bears to feed on the scraps and carcasses they leave behind after making a kill.
Until this year, the last report of a fully mature ivory gull in Massachusetts was in the 1800s. Three immature birds were seen in the 1940s. In 1976, another immature bird had been spotted in Rockport.
Russell Graham of Dallas is flying in Friday for a three-day visit. He’s hoping the gull will still be in town when he arrives.
“The ivory gull is one of a handful of birds that every birder dreams of seeing but almost no one has.,” he said. “This isn’t a dream that’s confined to North America. There is also an immature bird in France that is causing the same reaction there. There are a couple of places where you can go in the summer and expect to see one but they are distant and expensive – Svalbard on Spitsbergen, Norway and Pond Inlet on Baffin Island, Canada.
“I never thought I would have the chance to see one and I can’t pass up this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”
If the gull is gone, Graham will consider a side trip to Nova Scotia, where two adult ivory gulls have been seen recently. “I’ll be keeping my fingers crossed,” he said.
John Fox of Arlington, Va., and his friend Adam D’Onofrio of Petersburg drove more than eight hours on Sunday to see the gull.
“No bird this morning,” Fox said a day later, shaking his head. “We left Virginia at three in the morning yesterday and arrived here 20 minutes too late.”
On Sunday morning, hundreds of people got to observe and photograph the gull as it fed on a chicken carcass someone put out on one of the docks in the parking lot. The bird stayed until 11 a.m., then flew across the harbor. It was not seen again for the rest of the day.
“We arrived at 11:20 and spent the rest of the afternoon in the parking lot, hoping it would return,” Fox said.
They stayed at Pilgrim Sands Motel and arrived at the parking lot early Monday morning for one more chance to see the ivory gull before returning to Virginia. Fox said it was his first time in Massachusetts. If he didn’t see the bird, he said, at least he could see Plymouth Rock before they left for home.
“That’s how it goes sometimes,” he said. “We don’t always see what we come for, but it’s nice to see some of the sights when you travel to a new area in hopes of seeing a rare bird.”
As Fox was planning his exit, a commotion caught his attention. One of the birders pointed toward the sky and said with a shout, “There it is.”
The pure white gull was flying toward the parking lot, silhouetted against a bright blue sky. Someone in the crowd announced for the record the gull had arrived at 7:45 a.m.
The bird flew in circles overhead, then landed on a snow bank in the middle of the parking lot. Cameras clicked and the birders “oohed and ahhhed” each time the ivory gull switched positions.
“Look how white it is,” someone said. “It’s got black feet, black eyes and a grayish-black beak,” said another.
The gull eyeballed the chicken carcass, still there from the day before, but it didn’t eat. Instead, it flew to the railing along the edge of the boat ramp and perched with a group of sea gulls. The photographers followed, changing positions to get the best lighting.
Fox stood with the group, talking with other birdwatchers, as the gull sat peacefully on the railing, observing all the people gathered around it. Was it worth the long drive up from Virginia?
“It sure was,” Fox said with a smile.
SanityCheck (07:24:36) :
There has been an “SSW” (Sudden Stratospheric Warming) event–they happen occasionally. Take a look at this one:
http://www.cpc.noaa.gov/products/stratosphere/temperature/10mb9065.gif
Then, go read this one:
http://www.innovations-report.de/html/berichte/physik_astronomie/cosmic_rays_detected_deep_underground_reveal_secrets_125785.html
Interesting, let me get this straight.
We went from almost record low temps in the stratosphere, to surpassing the all time record highs in a week? 65 degree C shift?
WOW!
Whats interesting is in looking at past years, available at:
http://www.cpc.noaa.gov/products/stratosphere/temperature/
Scroll to 10 hPa
90N – 65N
Some years do have a mid winter spike, for the same area but I didn’t see anything as big as this year.
Imagine that: Arctic Seagulls fly south for the winter to visit sunny New England. Must be a real bear up there in the Arctic this year.
Now, what was that article yesterday about the Arctic Ice totally gone by 2013?
Oh, yes, Canada, Russia and Denmark are frantically surveying the undersea land extentions to claim all the oil & gas under the Ice Cap.
So the implication of the article as it’s included here is…….
It was too cold in the Artic for the bird?
It was cold enough in MA for the bird to take a southern trip and not overheat?
The bird word was out-free chicken on the docks?
The wind blew in a convenient direction?
Whales are moving south?
Polar beaars are moving south?
Lost bird?
Global Cooling?
Global warming?
Whaaa?
After many millions of years which witnessed some wild climate variations, none of which could be blamed on SUV’s, here we are getting all excited over the spotting of a little white flying dinosaur in Massachusetts.
Shows us what’s possible.
Let’s ditch this silliness known as AGW. Living in a monochromatic world may be very boring indeed; there are other hues in the rainbow besides green.
SanityCheck,
How can a Sudden Stratospheric Warming (SSW) explain an increase in temperatures in the lower part of the troposphere? The stratosphere is a very stable region of the atmosphere and stratospheric air rarely penetrates to the lower troposphere. Actually, the recent SSW you noted contradicts the lower temps at 118,000 ft noted by robert brucker. Although the SSW does coincide with the amsu indicated January warming, I highly doubt it is the cause. Other explanations anyone??
SSW does sound better than SUV, but does it really explain all that January warming in the troposphere? And what if the surface records also show a sudden month-to-month warming. Shouldn’t it be called Sudden Atmospheric Warming then, or SAW. See?
Well, its supposed to get incredibly cold next week here in North America. There are currently +/- 1.5 million without power due to a winter storm. That number will probably grow. Sadly, the likelihood is that there are going to be people that will lose their lives from this. Someone please explain to me how Cooling is a good thing?
Chuck (02:33:53) :
Matti Virtanen (01:41:43) :
Although it might appear cold to North Americans, global temperature has actually surged in January:
here in South East Australia we are experience a heat wave, which has been jumped on by the government as a sign of climate change.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/01/29/2477433.htm?section=justin
Tell them it’s only WEATHER!!
lulo (07:45:45) :
“I hear that large sections of Australia are the warmest they have been for 70 years. That’s pretty good evidence for global warming… er… uh? It was even warmer 70 years ago???”
look at this link, while there is a heat wave in southeast australia, other parts of the continent were below normal in recent days. (click on “earlier”)
http://www.bom.gov.au/cgi-bin/silo/temp_maps.cgi?variable=maxanom&area=nat&period=daily&time=latest
Austin (08:23:16) :
Arctic Owls are frequently seen in the lower 48 during very bad winters. They were very common in 1884 and 1889
Twice in 125 years qualifies as “frequently” ??
“Actually, the recent SSW you noted contradicts the lower temps at 118,000 ft noted by robert brucker. Although the SSW does coincide with the amsu indicated January warming, I highly doubt it is the cause. Other explanations anyone??”
Strange. Well, it cannot be from N.America or the NAtlantic/NW Europe. My guess is SH and South Pacific SSts, as well as East Asia. Maybe the Central Atlantic has warmed as well. La Nina developed in Dec, so that rules out the East-Central pacific
Here’s an interesting thought. Forgive me if others have already stated it here.
It may not just be the cold weather that brings our snow white visitor down from the frozen wastes of the North. It may also be a booming population putting pressure on it. Consider that if the numbers for polar bears have gone up, then that must mean there is food enough to sustain the polar bear population (as well as, of course, ice). Where there is a polar bear kill, there is left overs for our arctic gull friend and his buddies. The line of reasoning should be obvious. Also, however, where the cold does play in, obviously, is in expanding the habitat of the arctic gull as the cold air flows southwards. While of course it can’t know there are no polar bears in Massachusetts (we hope!), it certainly can sense the air is fine enough to go scavenging for food. So if it thinks that its range has expanded, then that certainly says something…for now about the weather…but perhaps in the coming years about the climate.
Sorry, Bobby Lane, but Massachusetts is NOT Polar Bear Free!
http://www.ecotarium.org/exhibitsanimals/animals/pbear/
And I agree with John A… I will also never understand birdwatchers. Not that there’s anything wrong with that! I expect many people wouldn’t understand my interest in electronics or programming, either.
Any thoughts on the bloomberg article below discussing the continued shrinking of the glaciers? I had hoped the process would be slowing down. Can anyone point me to any other, perhaps contradictory studies?
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601124&sid=ajCBthQzAiU4&refer=home
More than sea level rise this seems to be the worst potential problem arising out of warming.
I always want to hear the other side things.
Thanks again in advance.
For those of you who are wondering about the large increase in UAH temps this January on Roy Spencers site he has this statement:
‘The fairly large fluctuations seen within individual months are usually due to increases (warming) or decreases (cooling) in tropical rainfall activity, called “intraseasonal oscillations”.’
So maybe this is one of those (he says “usually”).
A bit OT but here’s some early congrats on a blow-out month. Looks like WUWT got well over a million hits this month already.
The numbers from Quantcast look equally quite impressive. It’s like a step function from December to January.
On the other hand, the numbers from Alexa aren’t quite as impressive. This may be because Alexa seemed to have been having problems during the height of the Weblog voting as they stopped daily updates on 7 January and didn’t resume until 14 January. It looks like the period 8-13 January may be a SWAG; this can most obviously be seen when checking out WUWT’s rank and how it dropped off the graph for those six days.
And congrats on some of the excellent postings I’ve seen this month — and some equally interesting comments. I never heard of SSW or Rossby waves until now; this climate thingie gets more and more complicated with each article you post.
REPLY: over 1.2 million so far, confirmed by WordPress stat system. Will probably top out about 1.3 million – Anthony
The hot weather in Australia at the moment is in South Australia and Victoria, where a high pressure cell sitting over the Tasman Sea is bringing warm air down from the north. Adelaide where I live had its second hottest day on record last Wednesday at 45.7degC, the hottest being just over 46C back in 1939. Our Minister for Climate Change (Makes it sound like that is her job – to make the climate change) Penny Wong has leapt upon the record like a seagull onto a chip and declared it evidence of global warming – of course she did not try and explain what caused the hot weather in 1939! We usually get one or two heat waves like this each summer, where the weather is very hot for an extended period of time like a week or 10 days, and often at the end of January when school returns. Seems pretty normal to me, except the temp on Wed got up pretty high. I don’t think the rest of Australia is all that hot though.
The Amazing Story Behind Tho Global Warming Scam
By John Coleman
January 28, 2009
http://www.kusi.com/weather/colemanscorner/38574742.html
The key players are now all in place in Washington and in state governments across America to officially label carbon dioxide as a pollutant and enact laws that tax we citizens for our carbon footprints. Only two details stand in the way, the faltering economic times and a dramatic turn toward a colder climate. The last two bitter winters have lead to a rise in public awareness that CO2 is not a pollutant and is not a significant greenhouse gas that is triggering runaway global warming.
I heard that Al Gore was in Washington to address Congress yesterday. I had to grin, the “Gore Effect” is still working.
In Australia yesterday we witnessed 45.8C in southern Victoria and 41.5C in Tasmania. The 41.5C smashes the previous record for Tasmania (records go back 150+ years) and is the first time 41C has been exceed south of the mainland. It is fortunate that the little Gull didn’t didn’t keep flying south.
I note in passing that last year was one of the warmest on record across the Northern Hemisphere with the second lowest Arctic sea ice extent on record and the lowest Arctic ice volume on record. A single lost gull hardly seems significiant by comparison.
REPLY: you mean like Al Gore’s single lost polar bear report used in AIT? 😉 – I just thought it was interesting, but note there have been plenty of such examples in the opposite sense used to make headlines for AGW. Like the birds that brought down the “miracle on the Hudson” jetliner last week. They were said to be there thanks to “climate change”. – Anthony
Regarding current heat wave in SE Australia
Marble Bar heatwave, 1923-24
The world record for the longest sequence of days above 100°Fahrenheit (or 37.8° on the Celsius scale) is held by Marble Bar in the inland Pilbara district of Western Australia. The temperature, measured under standard exposure conditions, reached or exceeded the century mark every day from 31 October 1923 to 7 April 1924, a total of 160 days.
The highest temperature recorded during the record spell was 47.5°C on 18 January 1924. There have been higher temperatures at Marble Bar, with the highest recorded being 49.2°C, on 11 January 1905 and again on 3 January 1922.
Summer has finally arrived in Tasmania with a week so far of warm weather. I’m not complaining.
Anthony; be sure to look at the Coleman piece (cited earlier); another startling bit of De-Bunking, complete with a History of the “Scam” (Coleman’s word, not mine) all in one place.
http://www.kusi.com/weather/colemanscorner/38574742.html
Hi John.
That is well that you have an open mind regarding glacial melt and its terrifying significance — good for you! What follows is an excerpt from Nigel Calder and Henrik Svensmark’s “The Chilling Stars”:
The archaeologists of Bern Canton were grateful when Ursula Leuenberger presented them with an archer’s quiver made of birch bark. They were amazed when radiocarbon dating showed the quiver to be 4,700 years old. Frau Leuenberger had picked it up while walking with her husband in the mountains above Thun. There, the perennial ice in the Schnidejoch had retreated in the unusually hot summer of 2003, revealing the relic hidden beneath it.
The hiking couple had unwittingly rediscovered a long forgotten short-cut for travellers and traders across the barrier of the Swiss Alps. To keep treasure-hunters away, the find remained a secret for two years while archaeologists scoured the area of the melt-back and analysed the finds. By the end of 2005 they had some 300 items – from the Neolithic Era, the Bronze Age, the Roman period and medieval times.
The various ages of the items clustered in intervals when the pass of Schnidejoch was open, offering a quick route to and from the Rhone valley south of the mountains. There were no substantial human remains to compare with the murdered Ötztal ‘ice man’, found with a similar quiver high in the Italian Tyrol in 1991 and dated to 3300 BC. But the emergent history of repeated openings and closures of Schnidejoch gave a far more interesting picture of climate change.
The Ötztal man is a prize exhibit for those who assert that the climate at the start of the 21st century is alarmingly warm. The ice that preserved his mummified corpse lay unmelted, 3,250 metres above sea level, for more than 5,000 years – since the world was in its warmest phase following the most recent ice age. Then, so the story goes, the manmade global warming of the industrial era outstripped all natural variations and released the body as a warning to us all.
Quite different is the impression given by the relics found in the pass of Schnidejoch, at an altitude 500 metres lower than the Ötztal man’s ice-tomb. They tell of repeated alternations between warm periods when the pass was useable and cold periods when it was shut by the ice. The discoveries also cleared up a long-standing mystery about a Roman lodging house found on the slopes above the present-day town of Thun, where there was a Roman temple and settlement. The head of the cantonal archaeological service, Peter Suter, explained his satisfaction at the outcome: ‘We always asked ourselves why the lodging house was there. Now we know that it was on the route leading across the Schnidejoch.’
Here’s the deal, John: Ice melts and grows cyclically.
Should we expect the Bloomberg reporter to know anything about this? Yes, and no.
It would be nice, let us say, if the mainstream media had any perspective on “climate change” other than that of short-sighted alarmism.
“Pierre Gosselin (06:52:07) :
I noticed Al Gore referred to our need for energy independence in addition to the “grave” threat of global warming. Is he building himself a back door?
Maybe Obama’s plan will be to screw things up in the Middle East and to create a crisis to send oil prices shooting upwards…thus making Gore’s argument more compelling. ”
Pierre, no need to screw anything up over there. The plans are to introduce a significant gas tax. This has been justified by folks saying “Well…gas was already up at $4/gal!…so now that it’s at $2?…we can add $1.50 in gas tax, and it’s STILL cheaper!”
“And once the fuel bills come due, look for the AGW fantasy to be ridiculed even more.”
Actually, fuel here in New Englad has been surprisingly cheap this winter. I filled up my tank of heating oil last week, and paid $2.15/gal. Lots of folks in this area “locked in” to a contract last spring, when oil was at $4/gal, and are now stuck with that price.
JimB
I’m not sure what affect La Ninas have on Australia, but here in New Zealand they tend to have a warming impact in summer. From the NIWA site:
“NIWA research shows that during La Niña periods, New Zealand usually experiences a higher frequency of northeasterly winds. This increases the likelihood of warmer temperatures nationwide in spring and summer. In summer, there tend to be more frequent and heavier rain events in the north and east of the country and drier conditions in the west and south of the South Island.”
As a result we’re having a pleasant summer in NZ at the moment, but not record-setting so far.