Changes in the animal kingdom: super mega-pod of dolphins spotted off coast of California, vultures swarm NC

February 17, 2013 – CALIFORNIA – Thousands of dolphins spanning across seven miles of ocean were sighted off the coast of San Diego on Thursday, a boat captain told NBC 7 San Diego. Capt. Joe Dutra of Hornblower Cruises said he saw a “super mega-pod” of common dolphins Thursday around noon while he was on his daily tour. He said the pod was more than seven miles long and five miles wide. Dutra said the boat tour followed the pod for more than an hour and said he’s never seen anything like it. “When you see something that is honestly truly beyond belief,” the captain said. Guests aboard the boat started screaming and pointing when they first saw the school of adult and juvenile common dolphins. Dutra estimated there were about 100,000 dolphins swimming in the area. “They were coming from all directions, you could see them from as far as the eye can see,” he said. “I’ve seen a lot of stuff out here… but this is the biggest I’ve ever seen, ever.” Whale and dolphin watching tours have done particularly well this year, with dozens of animal sightings reported. Marine mammal expert Sarah Wilkin said the reason the large pod might be there is because there’s plenty of food in the area, including sardines, herring and squid. “They’re attracted to kind of the same thing, they might wind up in the same place,” she said. Though dolphins typically travel in groups of 200 or less, Wilkin said “super-pods” are not unheard of. “They’re definitely social animals, they stick together in small groups,” she said. “But sometimes, the schools come together.” Dutra, who’s been boating for decades, said he felt lucky to enjoy such a rare phenomenon. “You had to be there to experience it,” he said.  “It was truly spectacular.” –NBC 

Climate shift brings vultures to NC: Thanks to a mild winter, swarms of turkey vultures have made themselves at home in Shelby, N.C., but town residents are wary of their neighbors. While the birds normally pass through the city while migrating south for the winter, the vultures have been sticking around this year, swarming lawns and making residents nervous. “We are just not getting cold enough to push them along,” Kristen Duren, an intern with the North Carolina Cooperative Extension,  the state agriculture service, told ABC’s Charlotte, N.C. affiliate WSOC-TV. “What used to be five to 10 birds is going up to 150 birds.” Joan Schmoutz, who has lived in the same home in Shelby since 1963, told ABCNews.com that the vultures normally flock in the mornings and the evenings. “They come and they’re there every morning,” she said. “In the morning, they throw out their wings and catch the sun,” Schmoutz said. “They’re not a nuisance in that way, because I like to watch them. But they do a job on the yard.” Schmoutz said the birds mostly stay in the trees, but estimates that there are “over a hundred [birds] on any given day” in her neighborhood. Schmoutz said she first started noticing the turkey vultures flocking to the area two years ago. She said she received a survey in her mailbox about removing the birds from of the neighborhood, but in terms of progress, “we haven’t seen anything yet.” –ABC

contribution Neibo & Iris