Truro

Researchers document unusual find: 31 torpedo rays wash up on Provincetown beach just after Christmas.

As the Cape nears the start of sea turtle stranding season there is another long-distance migrant that researchers have spotted coming ashore in record numbers this year, Ocean sunfish.

A total of 161 great white sharks have been spotted off the coast of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, since June. Experts say attacks on people are unlikely as the sharks are looking for seals.

The odds of an attack are low, experts say, yet their advice today is not to go into the ocean above your waist. Are our carefree swimming days over?

Robert Prescott, of the Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary, believes a warming trend allowed the turtles to delay their migration south.

"How he got so far inland from the ocean to Route 6A without getting hurt is amazing," police posted. "Must be a NAVY SEAL!"

For researchers, this winter's mass migration of snowy owls from their breeding grounds above the Arctic Circle to the Great Lakes region is serious business.

Add the deadly eastern equine encephalitis virus to the list things we might find more of in our climate-changed future.