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"Dead or dying herring found on shore should not be collected, consumed or used by the public for any reason, as a variety of factors could affect the food safety of fish, such as toxins, diseases or environmental contaminants", warned the Canadian Food Inspection Agency and the Department of Fisheries and Oceans in a statement. Officials are now testing for pesticide content and checking water oxygen levels, in hopes of getting to the bottom of the situation.

In Britain, Syngenta has built a network of academics and regulators, even recruiting the leading government scientist on the bee issue. In the United States, Syngenta pays academics like James W. Simpkins of West Virginia University, whose work has helped validate the safety of its products. Not only has Dr. Simpkins’s research been funded by Syngenta, he is also a $250-an-hour consultant for the company. And he partnered with a Syngenta executive in a consulting venture, emails obtained by The New York Times show. Dr. Simpkins did not comment.

The bee findings were not what Syngenta expected to hear. The pesticide giant had commissioned James Cresswell, an expert in flowers and bees at the University of Exeter in England, to study why many of the world’s bee colonies were dying. Companies like Syngenta have long blamed a tiny bug called a varroa mite, rather than their own pesticides, for the bee decline. Dr. Cresswell has also been skeptical of concerns raised about those pesticides, and even the extent of bee deaths. But his initial research in 2012 undercut concerns about varroa mites as well.

Birders across the city reported seeing fewer starlings — and pretty much every other bird — during the 96th Christmas Bird Count. Dozens of bird lovers flocked together across the city on Boxing Day for the annual tally put on by the Hamilton Naturalists' Club, and noticed a consistent decrease in populations all around. "We might have close to the 30,000 we had last year as this trend continues, perhaps even less," said Rob Porter, head of field events with the Hamilton Naturalists' Club and Digital Naturalist.

Weather-wise, it had been a fairly typical November day, two days before Thanksgiving, in the western Cumberland County agricultural community of Stow Creek Township - mostly sunny, with a bit of a nip in the air. Then, all of a sudden, it was raining dead birds. And by the time the brief "shower" was over, as many as 200 red-winged blackbirds (Agelaius phoeniceus) littered the ground in a small housing development off Frank Davis Road surrounded by vast farm fields. "They just fell from the sky," said Larry Hajna, a spokesman for the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection.

North American shorebirds have declined significantly over the past several decades. As a result, ornithologists have carried out numerous studies to identify key habitat for preservation and develop conservation strategies. Most of this research has been conducted on northern breeding grounds or on wintering grounds in South America, but there have been few studies in the Caribbean.

A group of conservationists says it’s time to act to save the Canadian Prairies, which they say are disappearing off the face of the Earth faster than the Amazon rainforest and the Great Barrier Reef. Nature Conservancy Canada says more than 70 per cent of Canada’s prairie grasslands have been converted for other uses such as agriculture and industry. By comparison, just 20 per cent of the Amazon has been converted for other uses. The environmental group says some of the world’s most significant remaining grasslands are in Canada, but could soon disappear unless more is done to save them.

American Bird Conservancy has petitioned the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service to list the Oregon Vesper Sparrow as a threatened or endangered species under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). In a letter sent to Sally Jewell, Secretary of the Interior, ABC describes this subspecies of the Vesper Sparrow as highly imperiled and threatened with extinction throughout its range. The petition makes the case that the species warrants listing because it lacks adequate protection under existing regulatory mechanisms. Without ESA listing, the sparrows’ future looks grim.

Vultures are one of the most threatened families of birds in the entire world and their decline has been shockingly rapid. Some species in Africa and the Indian subcontinent have declined by over 95% in the last few decades, a rate faster than even that of the Passenger Pigeon or Dodo. Many old world vultures are now Critically Endangered – meaning they are at risk of going extinct in our lifetimes.