Humpback dead in South Africa and dolphin ashore in New Jersey

2024, May 16. South Africa, Approximately 50km north of Durban, Blythedale Beach. A dead juvenile humpback whale’s carcass washed up on the yesterday. The Specialised Rescue Unit and the KZN Stranding Network are heading the investigation.

Dead whale calf washes ashore in KZN - LNN - Letaba Herald (citizen.co.za)

2024, May 19. USA, New Jersey, Monmouth County, Long Branch. A bottlenose dolphin washed ashore dead after being seen floating in the ocean the day before. The Marine Mammal Stranding Center is  investigating.

Fisherman finds dead dolphin on N.J. beach - nj.com

Whales dead in Corsica and spectacular fireball in Portugal

2024, May 18. Corsica, Aleria, Serra di Fiumortu and Ghisonaccia, Mediterranean Sea. Three Cuvier's Beaked Whales strand with two dying. The individual at Ghisonaccia was 6 meters long and weighed 1.8 tons.

2024 - Three whales wash up on three separate beaches in Corsica, two are dead (actualnewsmagazine.com)

2024, May 14. Italy, Abruzzo, Campania, Emilia-Romagna, Lazio, Marche and Steiermark. Fireball. Time: 0:06 UT. 2024-05-14 22:06CEST.

American Meteor Society (amsmeteors.org)

2024, May 19. Time 0:46 CET (23:46 Lisbon time). A bright fireball crossed the skies of Spain and Portugal and as far away as France. Meteor (likely a fragment from a comet). It was travelling N.E. delivering concurrent and delayed sound. Time: Lisbon time: 23:46 or 0:46 CET. The AMS has the following date/time: 2024-05-18 22:50 UT; 2024-05-19 00:18. If meteorites have made landfall they would be located near the village of Pereira, in Castro Daire, northern Portugal, 60 km southwest of Porto. The track below might change.

American Meteor Society (amsmeteors.org)

Whale stranding in Victoria - Updated 20240519

2024, May 18. Victoria, Great Ocean Road, Princetown, Gibsons Beach. Two beached whales. They are likely to be Pygmy sperm whales. Updates will come.

Jessica Howard - The Standard

Two beached whales at Princetown prompt rescue operation | The Standard | Warrnambool, VIC

Interesting observations:

2024, May 12. Victoria, mass fish deaths (See post below).

Later in day: 2024, May 12. Victoria, Bass Strait. Bright Bolide/Fireball. Time: 21:00.

2024, May 18. Victoria, Great Ocean Road, Princetown, Gibsons Beach, Port Campbell National park. Two beached whales. Likely to be Pygmy sperm whales.

Beaked whale dies in Scotland

2024, May 13. Scotland, Moray Firth, Ardersier. Sowerby's beaked whale died after multiple attempts at stranding. The rescue operation involved the British Divers Marine Life Rescue (BDMLR). Scottish Marine Animal Stranding Scheme is now investigating. This event occurred the same day as the Belgium incident involving a Minke whale in the below post. It's a cluster of strandings since the North Sea fireball on April 30 and the postdated May 7 titled Black dolphin stranded in Scotland.

Sowerby’s beaked whale dies after repeated stranding on Moray Firth coastline at Ardersier in the Highlands (inverness-courier.co.uk)

Airburst in North Atlantic

2024, May 15. Canada, Newfoundland. North of Fogo Island. North Atlantic. Airburst. (Latitude: 49.8, Longitude: -54.1). e= 2.8. -e+ 0.098 or equivalent energy of 98,000 kg/TNT. Altitude 64.2 km.

New Zealand meteor

2024, May 7. UTC. New Zealand, East of South Island in the Pacific. (Possible electrophonic meteor) Traveling West. Duration: 4.49 seconds. Velocity: 66.12km/s. LB:174.76, LB: -46.06. HB: 117.87km. LE:171.00, LE: -46.17. HE: 101.35km.

Map – Fireballs Aotearoa

Mass fish kill in Victoria, including penguins

2024, May 12. Victoria, 90 Mile Beach, Bass Strait, between Loch Sport and Paradise Beach. 100's of dead fish and little penguins across 200m of beach. There are several other reports of similar incidents at nearby locations.

Source: Steve Outdoors

Fisherman's 'very disturbing' find on remote Aussie beach as major clue seized upon (yahoo.com)

The importance of keeping deceased whale carcasses on the shore

2020, November. Netherlands, Rottumerplaat Island, a Wadden Island north of Groningen. Minke whale washed up. Scientists and researchers from the Wageningen Marine Research found 129 different types of beetle in the two years the carcass was rotting away. Around 74 of those had not been seen on the island earlier.

Beetles possibly came to Rottumerplaat island just to feed on whale carcass | NL Times

Dolphin dead in UK

2024, April 28. UK, Dorset, Bowleaze Cove close to Waterside Holiday Park. A very decomposed dolphin, species unknown washes up on Weymouth beach. Half skeleton and half carcass.

Dolphin carcass washes up onto Weymouth beach (yahoo.com)

Gray whale calf dead in Oregon

2024, May 6. USA, Oregon, Tish-A-Tang Beach in Bandon. A 20-foot-long gray whale calf covered in tooth marks. The individual had widespread tooth marks over the body and major trauma to the lower jaw and abdomen, indicating that it had recently succumbed to severe injuries due to orca predation.

Photos: Gray whale covered in tooth marks found dead on Oregon beach | Pets, Animals and Nature | centraloregondaily.com

Dead Chatalot (Sperm Whale) in New Zealand

2024, May 5 or 6. New Zealand, South Island, Oreti Beach, Southland. 15-meter cachalot. Foveaux Strait, north of Stewart Island. The whale was mutilated by criminals, who acquired the lower jaw. See the posts below on New Zealand meteor activity. 

DOC and iwi seek info on stolen whale jawbone: Media release 13 May 2024

Humpback dead in Vietnam and Minke calf ashore in Belgium

2024, May 13. Belguim, West Flemish coastal city of Ostend. A young minke whale has been found dead on the beach. The animal that is around 3 metres long was found on a part of the beach near to the Casino Kursaal. See May 2nd (North Sea Fireball) post.

Credit: Belga/ Kurt Desplenter

Credit: Jeffrey Roos

Young minke whale washes ashore near to Ostend’s Casino Kursaal | VRT NWS: news

2024, May 11. Vietnam, Diễn Hùng Commune, Diễn Châu District in the central province of Nghệ An. A Humpback whale carcass weighing more than 10 tonnes was found washed up on the shore. The carcass, about 9m in length and about 4-5m in width, was already well in the process of decomposition.

10-tonne whale carcass buried in central province (vietnamnews.vn)

Dolphin rescue in the Bahamas and dead dolphin in India

2024, May 11. India, Chilika Lake near Gopabandhu Nagar under Balugaon civic limits in Khurda district. Irrawaddy dolphin dead.

Carcass of Irrawaddy dolphin found on bank of Chilika Lake in Odisha’s Khurda (sambadenglish.com)

2024, May 10. The Bahamas, Blackbeard's Cay/Balmoral Island. Five dolphins were rescued and were transported last night and this morning to Atlantis' Animal Care facility for further observation, medical attention and continued care.

WATCH: Dolphins rescued in The Bahamas | Loop Caribbean News (loopnews.com)

Black dolphin stranded in Scotland

2024, May 4. Scotland, Firemore Beach, a 12 mile drive north of Gairloch, Loch Ewe. Long-finned Black Dolphin (pilot whale) stranded and died. It was still alive on stranding. British Divers Marine Life Rescue (BDMLR) coordinated the rescue operation. See Fireball North Sea post-May 2nd.

Picture: Donna Suzanne Hopton.

Pilot whale dies on Wester Ross shores after becoming stranded (ross-shirejournal.co.uk)

Note: I've placed in the meteor detected 2 days before the above stranding. Sometimes whales unfortunately die, for all sorts of reasons. This is more for reference if there are any further strandings. The one to the north was badly located because if any whales were moving away from the North Sea area because of the fireball they ran straight into this. 

Map – Fireballs Aotearoa

Two large meteor updates and continued New Zealand activity. (Updated 20240507) Spain and New Zealand meteors

2024, May 3. USA, Ohio. Seen in many surrounding states including Canada. Large Fireball. Sonic booms and electrophonic properties. Local Time: 23:16 or Saturday, May 4th 2024 around 03:36 UT. A loud whistle, and then two quick booms were heard. Then a loud thud then an impact boom in the distance. There was a faint vibration felt in the ground.

2024-05-05T20:11:03. Airburst. South Pacific Ocean. Location: (-7.1, -112.7). e=3.7, -e= 0.13. Equivalent force in kilograms of TNT: 130,000. Altitude: 39 km. Velocity: 13.9km/s.

2024, May 4. New Zealand, North Island. Travelling west. Duration: 4.23sec. HB: 133km. HE: 79km.  

North Island

South Island

Map – Fireballs Aotearoa

Update: 2024 May 5^th. New Zealand, Auckland, Bay of Plenty, Canterbury, Hawke's Bay, Manawatū-Whanganui, Waikato and Wellington. Large Fireball. N.W. Of Hamilton travelling S.S.W. Time 08:34 UT or 20:34NZST. Had concurrent (electrophonic meteor) and delayed properties. Seen as far away as Christchurch over 700 km away. The sonic boom was heard over 200km away.  

A large fireball has been filmed in Spain. 

2024, May 4. Spain. Large Fireball. Officially termed SPMN050524D, was seen streaking through the skies of Aragon, Catalonia, the Valencian Community, the Basque Country, La Rioja, and Navarra. Estimated to be a 1 meter in diameter chondritic.

Irrawaddy dolphin dead in Bangladesh

2024, May 2. Bangladesh, Patuakhali. A 4-feet long Irrawaddy dolphin baby has washed up on Kuakata beach.

google.com/url?rct=j&sa=t&url=https://thedailynewnation.com/dead-dolphin-on-kuakata-beach/&ct=ga&cd=CAEYACoTNzQzNDA2NTc4OTAzNTM4NjgzOTIdNjFiNGFkY2ZiYTQzNzRmOTpjb20uYXU6ZW46QVU&usg=AOvVaw0Hxe-kgzucDIXAPJL7XqqY

Fin whale ashore in Delaware

2024, May 5. USA, Delaware, Indian River Inlet. A subadult fin whale about 50 feet long was found beached on the north side of the Indian River Inlet Bridge.

Photo courtesy of Katie Dirks.

Beached whale found in Delaware near Indian River Inlet Bridge; Marine Education, Research, and Rehabilitation Institute assists - 6abc Philadelphia

UPDATE: Fin whale found beached near the Indian River Inlet Bridge | News | wrde.com

Penguin mass death in South Australia

2024, February, March, April. Little penguin mass deaths rise to 57 along South Australia's south coast as birds wash up at Goolwa near Victor Harbor.

Little penguin mass death reported along South Australia's south coast as birds wash up at Goolwa (msn.com)

Meteor activity for New Zealand

Update 20240504: This time in the Christchurch region. I know this looks like a mess, however there is still heavy activity in New Zealand. They are close to land but without field-of-view guidance, it's likely the atmosphere is just as chaotic offshore (eta Aquariids). Anything over 2.5 seconds should be noted as a possible VLF radio wave source (electrophonic meteor) and the duration causes disturbance over a large region. The marine animal disturbance for 90-mile beach, the Spit is still highly likely this week. 

Knowing how many whales are moving through Cook Strait would be interesting. Whales will divert their movements depending on the activity. What I would love to know is whether baleen whales move because of the activity or the excited activity of toothed whales?

Map – Fireballs Aotearoa

20240503UTC. Time: 15:36 UTC. Duration: 4.21 seconds. North tip of the North Island of New Zealand. HB: 122km. HE: 110km (High Range). Traveling west. 

Map – Fireballs Aotearoa

Pygmy sperm whale dead in South Carolina

2024, May 2. USA, South Carolina, Myrtle Beach, near Pirateland. A 300 pound Pygmy sperm whale. Was alive on stranding. Myrtle Beach State Park.

South Carolina Department of Natural Resources (SCDNR)

Here’s what to do if you spot a beached whale in Myrtle Beach, SC (yahoo.com)

Dead humpback in Western Australia

2024, May 3. Western Australia, Ocean Beach, Denmark. A humpback whale 9.5m long washed ashore and died. It was in poor health. A shark warning and the closure of the Ocean Beach Surfing Spot, near the Denmark Surf Life Saving Club, were issued on Saturday morning.

Shark alert issued for Ocean Beach Surfing Spot in Denmark after sick humpback whale stranded itself and died | The Albany Advertiser

2023 = meteors and whale strandings

Bolides, Meteors or Airbursts = Whale Strandings. Whether it was in India or Hawaii the same can be seen in the rhythm of events. Below are dates for UK and Scotland between April and September.

2023, April 26. Celtic Sea, North Atlantic. Airburst. (47, -10.7). Time: 13:14. Altitude: 29.6 km. Velocity: 16.2. e= 2.4. -e= 0.086.

2023, May 7. Scotland, North Berwick beach in East Lothian. Dead minke whale.

2023, May 8. UK, North Wales, Porth Neigwl, also known as Hell's Mouth, Gwynedd. An adult female cachalot.

2023, July 6, UK, Irish Sea, Isle of Man. Fireball. Time: 22:33. Velocity: 20km/s. Duration: 20 seconds. LB: -4.01. LB: 54.20. HB: 94.37 km. LE: -2.38. LE: 52.96. HE:86.59 km.

2023, July 16. Scotland, Outer Hebrides, Isle of Lewis. 54 long-finned black dolphins died.

2024, July 25. Scotland, the village of Culross. Two northern bottlenose whales were stranded and died.

2023, September 1UTC. United Kingdom, North of Skye. Traveling S.S.W. Time: 21:14. Velocity = 65.89km/s. Duration: 0.95 seconds. LB: -5.66. LB: 58.20. HB: 112.23 km. LE: -5.94. LE: 57.68. HE: 101.58 km. Related Meteor Shower: Aurigids.

2023, September 4. United Kingdom, Skye, 13 common dolphins.

  

Map – Fireballs Aotearoa

Low and slow echolocation crackler

If New Zealand escapes a whale stranding at the moment it will be a miracle. A marine animal disturbance is highly likely. Anywhere from the spit to 90 mile beach in next seven to 14 days. If a stranding does occur, I suspect it won't be a clumping event, the whales will be stretched along the coastline.

2024, April 30UTC. New Zealand, Tasman Sea, S.W. of Auckland. Meteor. Time: 07:52UTC. Duration: 6.30 seconds. Velocity: 15.95km/s. LB:173.57, LB: -37.24. HB: 86.26km. LE:174.53, LE: -37.64. HE: 71.67km. 

Map – Fireballs Aotearoa

Minke whale ashore in the Hamptons

2024, May 1. USA, New York, Southampton, Bridgehampton Beach. A female minke whale, measuring 26 feet long and weighing nearly 8,000 pounds. Underweight and severely decomposed. Atlantic Marine Conservation Society performed a necropsy.

'Underweight' Minke Whale, Weighing 8,000 Pounds, Washes Ashore Dead | The East Hampton Star

Notable Meteors in the area:

2024, April 27. USA, Connecticut, Delaware, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Road Island. Large Fireball. Around 02:08 UT. 22:04EDT.  

2024, April 14. USA. Time: 21:07EDT. Large Fireball. Seen as far north as New Hampshire and south to Virginia.  Landlocked event but shows the activity in the area.

Fireball in North Sea, Updates for Western Australia and New Zealand

2024, April 30. England, Friesland, Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein. Time: 23:43 UT. Local; 01:33, 2 time zones.

I'm waiting on official data on this event which could take 24 to 48 hours.

Fireball events (amsmeteors.org)

Western Australia: Without headland cameras, it's hard to know what is happening in the Gulf and Indian Ocean at the moment however after a few days of lull activity there have been a couple of larger meteoroids. The larger one east of Albany could indicate that more significant events are occurring further afield. I'll keep watching.

Map – Fireballs Aotearoa

New Zealand: Update: 20240502. Meteor

2024, April 29. UTC. New Zealand, East of South Island in Pacific. Duration: 2.48 seconds. Velocity: 62.63km/s. LB:176.37, LB: -44.40. HB: 114.17km. LE:175.43, LE: -43.21. HE: 100.83km.

Map – Fireballs Aotearoa

Continued meteor activity in Tasman Sea

2024, April 28. New Zealand, North Island, Cook Strait. Meteors. Numerous meteors were detected travelling N.W. over the Tasman Sea.

Map – Fireballs Aotearoa

I will use this situation to see, (if there is a stranding), to answer the question of why sometimes whales strand after bad weather. There is a gale warning for Raglan coastal area for the next few days. If whales are under extreme stress from meteor activity, they will more likely run ashore during these weather events. Whales in this situation need to stay at sea, where a number are likely to die naturally if they are under stress. The rest of the pod will survive and swim on. If a storm comes along during this time, the whole pod will likely come to shore. Time will tell. I hope not, but this is another scenario that needs to be observed. As noted, it is not uncommon for pods to strand after storms. The question has been why? I will start using weather maps to add to observed events in the future. 

Raglan Coastal Marine Weather Forecast - MetService New Zealand

Dead mother and calf Pygmy sperm whales in South Africa

2024, April 29. South Africa, Cape Town, False Bay. A Pygmy sperm whale mother and calf washed ashore on a beach. The calf near Hendon Park in Gordon’s Bay Beach and the 2.5-meter-long mother at Fleur Park. The mother had been dead for three to five days and apart from rock scratches, there were no apparent injuries, the same for the calf.

Pygmy sperm whales wash ashore on Gordon's Bay beach (capetownetc.com)

Stranded dolphin taken to new facility

2024, April 26. USA, Massachusetts. A Common dolphin found stranded on Kingsbury Beach in Eastham was brought to the new IFAW Dolphin Rescue Center in Orleans.

Stock Image

IFAW's Dolphin Rescue Center activated for stranded common dolphin (capecodtimes.com)

Meteor News. 2024, April 27. USA, Connecticut, Delaware, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Road Island. Fireball. Around 02:08 UT. 22:04EDT. Came in from North Atlantic, fragmenting before landfall. Concurrent and delayed sounds were heard. It was traveling W.N.W.

Another dead Cachalot (sperm whale) in the Philippines

2024, April 27. Philippines. Another dead cachalot (sperm whale) has been found on Siargao Island. It's the second whale in ten days. On April 16, a dead sperm whale at Magpupungko Rock Pools, Barangay Pilaring, Municipality of Pilar, Siargao Island. On April 25, another was located in the waters of Paasaw, in the town of General Luna on Siargao Island. Both were in an advanced state of decomposition when found. Their cause of death has not been determined.

Image: Coast Guard guard Siargao.

Dead Whales! (newsline.ph)

Two dead whales in one day in the USA

2024, April 25. USA, Massachusetts and Nantucket. Two whales on the same day. In the morning a dead Minke whale washed up in Nantucket. Later on in the day an adult 41.7-foot Humpback washed up dead on Preston Beach, near Surf Street in Marblehead, Massachusetts. Both seemed to have no external injuries. 

A whale of a spectacle - Itemlive

Two dead whales found off Massachusetts in one day | Miami Herald

WHRO - What we know about the recent whale deaths in Hampton Roads