Thousands of the snow-white birds, which stand 2 feet tall with 5-foot wingspans, have been spotted from coast to coast, feeding in farmlands in Idaho, roosting on rooftops in Montana, gliding over golf courses in Missouri and soaring over shorelines in Massachusetts.

A certain number of the iconic owls fly south from their Arctic breeding grounds each winter but rarely do so many venture so far away even amid large-scale, periodic southern migrations known as irruptions.

“What we’re seeing now — it’s unbelievable,” said Denver Holt, head of the Owl Research Institute in Montana.

“This is the most significant wildlife event in decades,” added Holt, who has studied snowy owls in their Arctic tundra ecosystem for two decades.

Holt and other owl experts say the phenomenon is likely linked to lemmings, a rodent that accounts for 90 percent of the diet of snowy owls during breeding months that stretch from May into September. The largely nocturnal birds also prey on a host of other animals, from voles to geese.

An especially plentiful supply of lemmings last season likely led to a population boom among owls that resulted in each breeding pair hatching as many as seven offspring. That compares to a typical clutch size of no more than two, Holt said.

Greater competition this year for food in the Far North by the booming bird population may have then driven mostly younger, male owls much farther south than normal.

Research on the animals is scarce because of the remoteness and extreme conditions of the terrain the owls occupy, including northern Russia and Scandinavia, he said.

The surge in snowy owl sightings has brought birders flocking from Texas, Arizona and Utah to the Northern Rockies and Pacific Northwest, pouring tourist dollars into local economies and crowding parks and wildlife areas. The irruption has triggered widespread public fascination that appears to span ages and interests.

“For the last couple months, every other visitor asks if we’ve seen a snowy owl today,” said Frances Tanaka, a volunteer for the Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge northeast of Olympia, Washington.

But accounts of emaciated owls at some sites — including a food-starved bird that dropped dead in a farmer’s field in Wisconsin — suggest the migration has a darker side. And Holt said an owl that landed at an airport in Hawaii in November was shot and killed to avoid collisions with planes.

He said snowy owl populations are believed to be in an overall decline, possibly because a changing climate has lessened the abundance of vegetation like grasses that lemmings rely on.

This winter’s snowy owl outbreak, with multiple sightings as far south as Oklahoma, remains largely a mystery of nature.

“There’s a lot of speculation. As far as hard evidence, we really don’t know,” Holt said.

(Editing by Steve Gorman and David Bailey)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/us/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120128/us_nm/us_owls_migration

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>>> the company that owns the costa concordia is looking to cut a deal with passengers who were forced to abandon ship before it capsized off the coast of italy, looking to lessen the wave of class action lawsuits that are likely headed its way, the company is offering passengers a $14,000 settlement rye now, in addition to a refund plus travel expenses . as you can imagine, a lot of passengers decided to take a pass on accepting the deal.

Source: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/nightly-news/46169831/

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Is Dwight K. Schrute getting his own show? Reports are swirling that NBC is working on an “Office” spin-off starring Rainn Wilson for a potential midseason 2013 launch.

Read the whole story: TVLine

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/25/dwight-schrute-rainn-wilson-office-spinoff_n_1232692.html

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The US National Park Service extends from the Badlands of South Dakota to Biscayne Bay, Florida. But did you know it used to cover more? More »

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Gingrich said in a round of television interviews that his win, both unexpected and unexpectedly large, showed he was the Republican best able to go toe to toe with President Barack Obama in the fall. “I think virtually everybody who looks at the campaign knows I represent the largest amount of change of any candidate, and I think that’s why they see me as representing their interest and their concerns, not representing Wall Street or representing the politicians of Washington,” he said.

Romney argued that point, but not another, agreeing in a television interview that he had made a mistake by refusing to release his tax returns before the South Carolina vote. “If it was a distraction, we want to get back to the real issues in the campaign — leadership, character and vision for America, how to get jobs in America, and how to rein in the excessive scale of the federal government,” he said.

The former Massachusetts governor, who made millions in business, said he will make his 2010 return and an estimate for 2011 available online on Tuesday.

The decision marked a concession, as if one were needed, that Romney had stumbled on his way through South Carolina, a state where he led handsomely in the polls several days before the primary.

Florida votes next, on Jan. 31, a 50-delegate contest in one of the most expensive campaign states in the country, and one that Romney can ill afford to lose.

The former governor was an easy winner in the New Hampshire primary earlier in the month. Before that, he was a close runner-up behind former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum in Iowa caucuses where the vote count was so confused that he was originally announced the victor.

Despite his loss on Saturday, Romney remains the contender with the largest and best-funded organization. “Three states in now, we got 47 more to go,” he said, adding he was looking forward to the rest.

For all the political momentum gained in South Carolina, Gingrich made it immediately obvious that he is short on funds. He urged supporters via Tweet Saturday night to donate money, and then announced the name of his campaign website while making a nationally televised victory speech.

With their comments, both Romney and Gingrich indicated the race was a two-way competition, likely to go into the spring if not longer.

Santorum had other ideas.

“We’re going to Florida and beyond,” he said. As he did in a pair of debates in South Carolina, he criticized both Gingrich ? calling him a “very high-risk candidate” ? and Romney, whom he called a moderate ill-suited to appeal to conservative voters.

Texas Rep. Ron Paul, the fourth contender, has already said he will skip Florida and focus on Nevada and other caucus states.

Gingrich won South Carolina despite being outspent. But in addition to the prohibitive cost of campaigning in Florida, a long-term shortage of funds can cripple efforts to compete in the fast-paced series of primaries and caucuses ahead.

Aides say the former speaker raised $9 million in the final quarter of 2011.

Romney has reported taking in $24 million over the same period.

In addition, both men are supported by outside groups that have paid for millions in television advertising. So far, though, Romney’s has spent more, and to greater evident effect.

When Gingrich surged in the polls two weeks before the Iowa caucuses, Restore Our Future responded with hard-hitting ads that knocked the former speaker off-stride and protected Romney’s standing.

Gingrich lacked the funds to respond effectively, lashed out angrily, and sank to a poor fourth place finish. He did not begin to recover until the final days of the race in South Carolina, when he was aided by Romney’s missteps, Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s mid-week withdrawal and endorsement, and his own strong debate performances.

Also in the interim, Gingrich supporters said that casino magnate Sheldon Adelson had written a $5 million check to an outside group set up to help the former speaker.

Allies of Gingrich have made no secret of their hope that Adelson will help again in Florida, where the pro-Romney organization shows no signs of slowing down.

Even before the polls closed in South Carolina, Romney and a group supporting him had spent $7 million on television advertising in Florida. So far, the only other political ads to run in the state were financed by ASCME, a labor union working to weaken the standing of the former Massachusetts governor.

While a protracted battle for the nomination could benefit Obama, the signs pointed toward a particularly bruising struggle in Florida.

“I don’t think that the people of this country are going to choose as the next president of the United States a person who spent 40 years in Washington as a congressman and a lobbyist,” Romney said. “That is not going to be, in my opinion, be the most effective way to replace the current president who also spent his career in politics.”

Said Gingrich: “I think South Carolinians were the first state to really understand how liberal Governor Romney’s record was” as Massachusetts governor said Gingrich. He said his main rival lost ground “as people began to realize that he’d been pro-choice, pro-gun control, pro-tax increase in a whole range of areas that despite his advertising and his pretending, it was clear that he was way to the left of South Carolinians.”

With votes counted from all of South Carolina’s precincts, Gingrich had 40 percent to Romney’s 28 percent. Santorum won 17 percent to Paul’s 13 percent.

Gingrich won at least 23 of the 25 delegates at stake. The other two have yet to be allocated.

Gingrich appeared on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” CBS’ “Face the Nation” and CNN’s “State of the Union.” Romney was on “Fox News Sunday,” while Santorum was on ABC’s “This Week” and CNN.

_____

Eds: AP reporter Jack Gillum in Washington and Shannon McCaffrey in South Carolina contributed to this story.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/politics/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120123/ap_on_el_pr/us_gop_campaign

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