Mass bird deaths in New South Wales

Mass bird deaths of pelicans found dead have returned negative results for H5N1 avian influenza. Other causes, such as botulism, are still pending and will take some weeks. I will update if any further information comes forward. There could be many causes for these deaths. (All young birds, where are the adults?) Below are the only reports of meteor activity in the region. Interestingly, the large event on the 7th was the day the samples were taken. This can be taken out of the equation; however, it shows the level of activity around that time. For reference, see the 2024 April 24th post titled: (Mass bird deaths in New Zealand seven days after sonic boom).

2026, August 3. New South Wales, Orange. Fireball. A loud concurrent sound "pop" or deep clap hiss, and sizzle, zap from delayed sound. Time: 21:03 AEST - 2026-08-03 11:03 UT.

2026, August 6. South Australia, Blanchetown. Large Bolide as viewed from Brightsky Observatory. Time: 23:13:30ACST. Duration: 6 seconds.

2026, August 7. Northern Territory, Alice Springs. Large Bolide. Time: 18:30. Colour: green. Direction: west to east. Duration: +7 seconds.

2026, August (samples taken August 7). New South Wales, Menindee Lakes at Lake Cawndilla, approx. 90km SE of Broken Hill. 400 dead fledglings and juvenile pelicans.

Image: (ABC) Damien Cook

Large Meteor in Australia

After analysing data, a Marine Animal Disturbance Alert should be noted for the Bass Strait region and accompanying coastlines. The meteor has produced delayed and concurrent sound (VLF Radio waves). In one report, it has shut down surveillance cameras. The range of these waves could be approximately 70km. There has been a significant uptick in meteor sightings in the lower eastern region of Australia in the last few days; how far this extends into the Tasman Sea is not known. There have been a couple of larger events seen on the west coast of New Zealand. Therefore, the risk to cetaceans moving on migration routes during this period is high. 

I've had a few of these coastal sonic booms lately; one in Indonesia, the other in Malaysia and now this event. They are harder to analyse as a threat to cetaceans, however, they usually confirm wider base material coming in over a region, so it's better to be safe than sorry; therefore, be watchful for unusual cetacean behaviour.  

News report by WINNEWS: https://www.facebook.com/share/v/18y7c596dQ/

2025, November 2. Victoria. Large meteor, Thunderball. Time: 16:43.

Sonic boom heard over an area of 5,026.55 square kilometers (km²).   

Seen over 400 km away to the NE in NSW.

Sonic boom heard at: Fernbank 16:45, Paynesville, Wiseleigh, Loch Sport, Bairnsdale (Tremor), Lakes Entrance, Orbost (to the west),

A significant tremor was picked up on seismic recording equipment in Buchan, 70km to the NE of the event.  

Seen: Myrrhee, 180km NE, Warragul, Wattle Point and Wiweira, Melton (Melbourne), Jindabyne NSW after 4pm, Nowra (NSW), Sale, Armstrong Creek (Geelong),  

Reports meteorites have fallen. A witness has stated her cameras froze at 16:43, the time of the event. 

Witness Reports: “It resembled a lightning strike hitting our home, the building shook and windows rattled.” “The blast had brought him and his neighbours all out onto the street. The boom had lasted for several seconds. It rattled the roof tiles, it shook the house quite a bit, It was massive, I think people came out expecting to see a plane crash. The impact had definitely come from above and sent a wave of pressure downwards.

Reports of a fire were unrelated to the meteor event. Officials are looking for meteorites in the area. 

Will update this page as Information comes in. For more information or if you want to report anything go to Australian Meteor Reports | Facebook. 

Infrasound at Kingston Tasmania, 570 km to the south. Could be consistent with sonic booms at separate heights in East Gippsland VIC (~460 km path) if these were heard around 1700 AEDT (faster arrival from lower altitude). Times in UT, location coordinates shown.

The sonic boom has caused a significant tremor. 

Large Fireball/Meteor seen in South Australia

Preliminary Report, - will update

2025, June 10. (Preliminary Report) South Australia, seen west of Kupunda. Large Fireball. Duration: 8 seconds. Travelling east-south-east direction to the north west, over St Vincent Gulf. Time: 5:55 pm. Seen at Morphett Vale, Urrbrae and Adelaide City. Colour: Bright white with orange short tail. Some people saw green. There seems to be a blue plasma created above the object. Seen from locations 135km apart, however, I think this will grow. There seem to be other reports coming as far as Queensland and NSW. It could be part of a larger object dismantling pre-entry or a meteoroid stream.

Meteors were seen at the same time.

Meteor seen on Sunshine Coast in Queenland.

Meteor seen from Picton to Bowral in NSW.

Fireball in New South Wales, Australia

2025, June 1. Australia, New South Wales, Sydney. Fireball. Time: 17.56. Vision of the event shows a bright green glow passing over the sky. Entered the atmosphere just south of Newcastle. Delayed and concurrent sound heard. It was seen from as far south as Blackbutt, south of Woolongong, to Werris Creek in the north 360 km apart. The image below was taken Narrabeen Beach looking north, traveling east to west from the South Pacific Ocean. Duration: 6 seconds. 

Note: I’m awaiting further information before issuing a Marine Animal Disturbance alert for this event. Given the migratory patterns at this time of year, it would be prudent to remain vigilant for any signs of distress in cetaceans.

Belinda Buckton took this amazing image. Belinda Buckton | Facebook

Also seen in Sydney City. 

Fireballs and Strandings May 6 to 11, updated 20250513

2025, May 6. New South Wales, Port Macquarie, Miners Beach. Deceased melon-headed whale calf.

2025, May 8. USA, Massachusetts, Cape Cod, near Great Island, a gated community in Yarmouth. A female fin whale, around 65 feet long washed ashore.

2025, May 9. Queensland, Townsville, Rockpool. A rough-toothed dolphin that stranded itself was euthanised due to poor condition, the DETSI confirmed.

2025, May 9. Taiwan, over the Pacific Ocean off Taitung. Large Fireball. Time; around 11:47 p.m. It was visible from Nantian Village in the south of the county to Changbin Township in the north, a distance of over 170 kilometers.

2025, May 10. Philippines, Bohol, Poblacion, White Sands Resort. Dead dolphin.

2025, May 10. Ireland, Cross Strand, Templenoe. Dead dolphin.

2025, May 11. Western Australia, Central Wheatbelt. Mothers Day Fireball. Time: 5:57 am. Travelling north to the south. Duration: 10 sec. Color: green, orange glow. It was seen in locations over 560 km apart including Gingin, Scarborough, Mt Magnet, Mandurah, Kalgoorlie and Coolgardie. 

2025, May 11. Canada, B.C, near Skidegate on Haida Gwaii. A second deceased grey whale has washed ashore on a beach, less than a week after one was found at Long Beach on Vancouver Island. It measured about 12 metres long.  

B.C Gray Whale

This Bold Park Minke whale is an old carcass washed ashore on January 16.

Meteor airburst shows how devastating they can be when they occur over the ocean

Small Airburst in Australia. It's incredible to think that it was only 82,000 kg/TNT. What if it had been in the millions, or even just in the hundreds of thousands? Then imagine this over water and above cetaceans. The one off the coast of Mexico on March 27 was 2.4 million kg/TNT. 

2025, April 21. Australia, New South Wales, near Queensland border at the Gibraltar Nature Reserve. Airburst. Coordinates: (29.1 South, 151.6 East). Travelling NW or NNW was seen from Melbourne in Victoria to Bundaberg in Queensland, over 1600 km apart. Colour: Blue-Green. Energy: e = 2.3 × ^10j. -e = 0.082 or 82,000 kg/TNT. Altitude: 41km. Velocity: NA. Time: 09:27 UT, 19:23 AEST. The sound had delayed and concurrent properties. The sonic boom was heard at Stanthorpe (NSW) 58km away and was described as “a massive boom”. At Sandy Flat, houses were shaken shortly after the meteor exploded. A witness stated they, “saw the flash from lounge room window and shortly after heard a big bang, shaking the house like bad thunder”. 

The trajectory in the map below is preliminary.

Cachalot (sperm whale) calf strands and dies in New South Wales. Updated 15:26 AEDT on the 20240322

2024, March 21. Australia, New South Wales, Illawarra, Primbee Beach, Windang. A calf cachalot (sperm whale) died. Just a baby at just a few weeks old the whale washed up on the shore of an Illawarra beach. It was alive when first located but died shortly after.

I've placed the information from the post titled:  Tasman Sea Meteor and Update, here with my view of the situation.

2024, March 13. Tasman Sea. Meteor. (-41.98, 166.00). Time: 14:02 (UTC). Duration: 3.93 seconds. Because of its distance from New Zealand, locality and time of year; this event could produce marine animal disturbance. See map below.

Update: Approximately 7 hours before the event above a large fireball was seen travelling N.W. across the central South Island of New Zealand travelling towards the Tasman Sea. The green meteor lit up the sky for 5.5 seconds and was first detected at a height of 90 km. It descended at approximately 45 degrees and dismantled and disappeared at 25 kilometres. It produced a sonic boom and was travelling in the same direction as the one that would follow. Meteorite has been recovered.

2024, March 13. New Zealand, Canterbury, Otago and Southland. Approximate Time: 08:08 (UTC). 

The day before stranding in Australia: 2024, March 20. New Zealand, south of Christchurch, Birdlings Flat Beach, near Lake Ellesmere. Kaitorete Spit in Canterbury. Black Dolphin. The whale was euthanised later in the day.

In all likelihood, the calf has been separated from its pod after atmospheric disturbance (VLF Radio Waves) or an interaction with the water causing a panic situation. Placing this all together it is likely a meteor (a couple of kilos or so) has hit the Tasman Sea. It should be noted that even though the above two events were detected it doesn't mean something wasn't and could have been larger than the two events depicted.

New South Wales, Illawarra, Primbee Beach, Windang

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