Bye Bye Birdie

Perhaps we do not need to worry about the sky falling just yet, but what about the birds in it?  While the confetti was falling over Time Square on New Year’s Eve, the birds were falling over Arkansas.  According to an article on CCN.com, approximately 5,000 birds fell from the sky and died an hour before the new year officially began.  This was odd for many reasons.  The two primary birds found dead were Red Wing Blackbirds and Starlings. It is unknown why so many birds would have died all at once and also why they were even out and about so late at night, a habit not common with this species. 

Keith Stephens, a spokesperson for the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, examined some of the birds to try and solve this mystery.  After examining them he found that while their major organs were unharmed, there were blood clots and severe trauma to their breast tissue.  It is hard to say whether this trauma was a result of hitting the ground so hard or something that occurred before hand.  There had been a storm earlier on which could have caused the stress, and according to orthinologist, Karen Rowe, this is actually not that uncommon.  A lightning strike, fireworks or hail could cause significant harm or stress to a group of birds like this.

In Louisiana 500 red winged black birds also feel dead from the sky recently.  As of now there is no known trauma or explanation for the incident with these birds.  There have been several more theories, such as this was a government move in order to cut down on a bird population that is spreading too quickly.  Whatever the cause, many people around the world have panicked with blogs and rants about the end of the world being near. 

Tim Smith with the Missouri Department of Conservation does not share this fear.  Smith believes that it is very normal for these birds to die in mass amounts periodically throughout the year, especially in the winter.  The birds flock together and eat together, making any sort of catastrophe that occurs harming most of the birds.  Tim believes these birds were spooked by fireworks on New Year’s Eve which caused them to run into trees and other objects thus knocking them out of the sky and to their death below.
Smith also mentioned a smaller bird death that happened in Missouri shortly after which was at first thought to be connected to the Arkansas incident.  The Missouri bird deaths were later discovered to have been caused by a run in with an eighteen wheeler. Smith says quote:
                “I would resist the temptation to make more of it than an interesting, but unfortunate, natural
                event.”

It may be “raining birds” and it could even be “fowl play.”  We may never know for sure, but either way it’s tragic to say “Bye Bye Birdie.”

http://www.cnn.com/2011/US/01/03/arkansas.falling.birds/index.html