Dozens of yellow-headed blackbirds mysteriously drop dead in Mexico
Social media sleuths are trying to solve the mystery of why dozens of birds crashed to their deaths in the Mexican state of Chihuahua.
“Pls not bird flu,” quipped American Conservative Union boss Matt Schlapp after watching the footage, which gained attention online Saturday.
The birds — later identified as yellow-headed blackbirds — were discovered lifeless on sidewalks by residents of Cuauhtémoc City, the Spanish-language El Heraldo de Chihuahua reported.
The migratory fowl arrived from northern Canada and had been wintering in Mexico. The cause of the mass death remains unclear, but some speculated the birds may have been suffering from the effects of high pollution, which has plagued the region lately. https://nypost.com/2022/02/12/dozens-of-yellow-headed-blackbirds-mysteriously-drop-dead-in-mexico/
WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT – Flock of birds drop dead in Mexico
Security footage shows a flock of yellow-headed blackbirds drop dead in the northern Mexican state of Chihuahua. Mexico #News #Reuters Subscribe: http://smarturl.it/reuterssubscribe
200 starlings drop dead from the sky on to Pembrokeshire road ‘after huge electrical type bang’
200 starlings drop dead from the sky on to Pembrokeshire road ‘after huge electrical-type bang’ – leaving drivers fearing they were in a ‘horror film’
Hundreds of birds dropped from the sky this morning in a mass death in Wales 200 birds were found by motorists in Waterston and Hazelbeach, Pembrokeshire Bird expert Dominic Couzens, 59, said the starlings had probably been startled A witness reported hearing a large ‘electrical-type’ bang before the mass death Wildlife lovers were stunned after 200 birds mysteriously dropped dead from the sky in a seaside village.
Traumatised drivers said it was like watching ‘a horror film’ when seeing the starlings fall to the ground for no apparent reason.Witnesses said injured birds were scattered in hedgerows and on the ground and council officers cleared bloodied bird bodies from the road.
Officials confirmed around 200 starlings had died after being found near the villages of Waterston and Hazelbeach, Pembrokeshire, this morning.
Bird expert Dominic Couzens, 59, told MailOnline: ‘They were probably startled by something, maybe a loud bang.
‘Something unexpected made them disorientated and then they flew into something. He added: ‘It’s very odd. It’s very strange. It’s not something that’s easily explained. ‘It could be some misadventure. They could have done something daft. They’re not perfect. It’s all speculation.’Witness Claire Eaton said she saw the birds fall begin to fall from the sky on Thursday night and had taken an injured one home to care for it. She said: ‘It was really traumatic, on the road there were quite a few dead birds. Blood splattered everywhere. I saw a flash in the sky about an hour previously.
‘It was like something out of a horror film. I think the cause of this is man made, and people need to respect our wildlife.’ Ian Mccaffrey works in Waterston and said some birds fell out of the sky onto his car just after he heard a large ‘electrical-type’ bang. He said: ‘When I left work last night I heard a bang and then a load of birds landed on my car.’ ‘Every now and again you will hear a bang that is coming from what I think is a crow-scarer that farmers use. ‘However this bang was more like an electrical bang – not quite as loud as lightning but similar.’
Local newspaper editor Tom Sinclair said: ‘There were 50 plus birds on the road and you could hear them all in the hedges, squawking and making noises. ‘In the first wave people told me the council collected 10 bin bags, and I was there later on so I think quite a few hundred, if not a 1,000 have died.
This article is more than 11 years old
Apocalypse now? Mystery bird deaths hit Louisiana
Hundreds of blackbirds fall from sky over Louisiana, days after similar phenomenon in neighbouring Arkansas
New year fireworks may have caused Arkansas bird deaths
Dolphin deaths: Expert suggests ‘mass suicide’
Birds dropping dead from the skies and rivers flowing with tens of thousands of dead fish sounds like a cheesy Hollywood movie about the Apocalypse. Or the ravings of a Revelation-obsessed street preacher.
But residents of several US states are coping with the reality of mystery mass wildlife deaths, which have left officials scratching their heads and jumpy members of the public joking (nervously) about the end of the world.
Today it emerged that about 500 red-winged blackbirds and starlings had been found dead in Louisiana. Their tiny corpses littered a short stretch of highway near the city of Labarre after apparently falling dead from the sky.
That would be spooky enough. But the Louisiana bird die-off came just a few days after up to 5,000 blackbirds fell to earth in neighbouring Arkansas in the small town of Beebe. Residents there had reported stumbling upon the bodies littering the ground and even being hit by them as they fell. One woman said she was struck while walking a dog. Another avian corpse bounced off a police car.
In even more grim news, anglers and other members of the public reported that more than 80,000 drum fish had suddenly died in the state’s Arkansas river, about 100 miles west of Beebe. The silvery bodies of the fish floated in the river and washed up on its sides having died at roughly the same time. In another incident, hundreds of miles away on the Maryland coast of Chesapeake Bay, tens of thousands of dead fish also washed up on the shore.
Not surprisingly the news has startled and alarmed local residents and wildlife lovers across the US. But officials say such mass deaths do occur naturally.
The fish deaths in Arkansas appear to have affected only one species, which suggests the cause was a sudden outbreak of a specific disease. Meanwhile, the Maryland fish die-off was blamed on extreme temperature fluctuations due to cold weather.
The birds’ deaths, however, are a deeper mystery. Officials were still collecting bodies in Louisiana but have already examined those from the incident in Arkansas.
They concluded that the birds had suffered internal trauma. That could have happened if a single flock had suddenly got caught in a violent and unusual storm. Or, it has been speculated, a local fireworks display could have startled the birds so badly that they were unable to prevent themselves from flying into trees, pylons and houses.
Bird experts stressed no one should be worried. “Mass bird die-offs can be caused by starvation, storms, disease, pesticide, collision with man-made structures or human disturbance … Initial findings indicate that these are isolated incidents that were probably caused by disturbance and disorientation,” Greg Butcher, director of bird conservation at the Audubon Society, said.
Audubon officials stressed that birds as a whole faced a far greater threat from broader environmental problems than any headline-generating mass death incident. “Far more concerning in the long term are the myriad other threats birds face from widespread habitat destruction and global climate change,” Melanie Driscoll, Audubon’s director of bird conservation in the Mississippi river region, said.
Louisiana’s state wildlife veterinarian said yesterday at least some of an estimated 450 birds that died near Baton Rouge may have flown into a power line.
Jim LaCour said that the grackles, starlings, brown-headed cowbirds and red-winged blackbirds had broken beaks and backs.
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https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2011/jan/04/apocalypse-mystery-bird-deaths-louisiana