Bird Mass Death

[Ron Caliburn]

BEEBE, Ark. - Wildlife officials are trying to determine what caused more than 1,000 blackbirds to die and fall from the sky over an Arkansas town.

The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission said Saturday that it began receiving reports about the dead birds about 11:30 p.m. the previous night. The birds fell over a 1-mile (2-kilometre) area, and an aerial survey indicated that no other dead birds were found outside of that area.

Commission ornithologist Karen Rowe said the birds showed physical trauma, and she speculated that "the flock could have been hit by lightning or high-altitude hail."

The commission said that New Year's Eve revelers shooting off fireworks in the area could have startled the birds from their roost and caused them to die from stress.

Robby King, a wildlife officer for the agency, collected about 65 dead birds, which will be sent for testing to the state Livestock and Poultry Commission lab and the National Wildlife Health Center lab in Wisconsin.

Rowe said that similar events have occurred elsewhere and that test results "usually were inconclusive." She said she doubted the birds were poisoned.

[Ron Caliburn]

It's spreading

LABARRE — Hundreds of dead and dying birds littered a quarter-mile stretch of highway in Pointe Coupee Parish on Monday as motorists drove over and around them.

State biologists are trying to determine what led to the deaths of the estimated 500 red-winged blackbirds and starlings on La. 1 just down the road from Pointe Coupee Central High School.

The discovery of the dead birds — some of which were lying face down, clumped in groups, while others were face up with their wings outstretched and rigid legs pointing upward — comes just three days after more than 3,000 blackbirds rained down from the sky in Beebe, Ark.

Necropsies performed Monday on the birds in Arkansas showed the birds suffered internal injuries that formed blood clots leading to their deaths, The Associated Press reported.

In Louisiana, biologists with the state Department of Wildlife and Fisheries spent part of the day Monday scooping up some of the birds in Pointe Coupee Parish to be sent for testing at labs in Georgia and Wisconsin.

The remaining carcasses were still on the roadway, on the shoulder and in drainage ditches Monday afternoon as some motorists sped past, flattening birds lying in the roadway, while other drivers slowed down to gawk.

State Wildlife Veterinarian Jim LaCour said he planned to drive to Pointe Coupee to pick up some of the bird carcasses to study.

Lab tests could take several weeks to come up with an explanation for the deaths, and LaCour declined to speculate on possible causes; however, he did say massive bird deaths have been known to occur in the state in the past, albeit in smaller numbers.

“Underlying disease, starvation and cold fronts where birds can’t get their body heat up” have caused similar occurrences “in various species over the years,” he said.

LaCour said some of the bird samples will be sent to the U.S. Geological Survey’s National Wildlife Center in Wisconsin for analysis.

USGS spokesman Paul Slota said Monday afternoon he was unaware of the mass deaths in Louisiana, but he expects bird samples taken from the Arkansas occurrence on New Year’s Eve to arrive Tuesday in Wisconsin.

and

A local vet says fireworks are probably to blame for the deaths of dozens of birds which were found lying in a residential street in Sweden, days after thousands of birds fell from the sky in the US.

Police in the town of Falkoeping have told Swedish media between 50 and 100 jackdaws had died.

Some are said to have been hit by cars but others have no visible injuries.

Parallels have been drawn with the mysterious death of about 3,000 red-winged blackbirds in the US state of Arkansas on New Year's Eve.

That was followed by a similar incident this week in Louisiana, where around 500 birds were discovered dead in Pointe Coupee Parish.

The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission is awaiting test results to find the cause of the deaths of the blackbirds which died on New Year's Eve, as well as the deaths of 80,000 to 100,000 fish found floating in the Arkansas River about 160 kilometres away.

Rumours are swirling on the internet that the dead birds are a sign of everything from a government conspiracy to an apocalyptic plague.

But Swedish vet Robert te Horst says the cause of the most recent incident is probably far more mundane.

"Our primary opinion is that it was caused because of fireworks," he said.

"The birds have been sent to a laboratory in Sweden - they will do an autopsy on the birds."

There are also reports of mass fish deaths too.

[Gotham Witch]

This happens surprisingly often actually. I'm curious as to the whys, of course.

[Slendy Hunter]

I heard on the radio a couple weeks ago, this stuff's been happening from Maine to Brazil... Massive numbers of fish and birds just randomly dying. No clue why. Never heard another word about it.

Doubtful that it's supernatural in nature, but I guess anything's possible.

[Robyn]

A recent Oil spill perhaps?

[Eilonwy Solstice]

Perhaps it’s something of a “plague.” Back in my old high school, a kid would try to impress me by “predicting” just when, where, and how hard they would hit various wildlife in the local parks.

Most eerily though on the amount of times he was right.

By then a number of concerned citizens had called local authorities on him.