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Bird Falls: Mysterious Deaths Of Birds En Masse

Hundreds of dead birds found in mystery mass death

Update ...

As I understand it, the authorities have all but concluded the birds were murmurating to flee a predator, they dove en masse toward the ground as an evasive maneuver, and some didn't "pull out" of the dive.
Welsh police solve mystery of hundreds of dead starlings

Welsh investigators said Thursday they believe they've solved the mystery of hundreds of starlings found dead on a rural roadway -- the flock of birds likely smashed themselves into the ground by mistake to avoid a predator.

The North Wales Police offered an update on the case about a month after residents discovered at least 200 birds dead on the island of Anglesey.

The agency said that initial post mortem results indicate the birds had internal trauma from impact with the road.

"We still await toxicology, but from speaking to many people, looking at the injuries and previous world wide cases it appears by taking avoiding flight action the murmuration has flown towards the ground and pulled up, but some have not made it," said Rob Taylor, of the NWP's rural crime team. ...

Stevens said she had seen the birds alive and well and flying in a massive flock when she first passed by the spot on her way to a doctor's appointment, but when she returned along the same route an hour later they were all dead. ...

SOURCE: https://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-...ndreds-of-dead-starlings/2451579210183/?sl=12
 
Don't believe that, surly if 300 birds dived into the ground at least a few would have been alive but injured.
 
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So I was right? That doesn't happen very often...
 
... As I understand it, the authorities have all but concluded the birds were murmurating to flee a predator, they dove en masse toward the ground as an evasive maneuver, and some didn't "pull out" of the dive. ...
Don't believe that, surly if 300 birds dived into the ground at least a few would have been alive but injured.

I found an orphaned post from 2003 describing a mass suicide by starlings in Stuttgart, in which a mass of the birds nose-dived into the ground (with multiple witnesses). It's now been transferred into this thread:

https://forums.forteana.org/index.p...us-deaths-of-birds-en-masse.28735/post-285585
 
More than 1,000 birds were found dead near a Missouri town on Monday and officials want to know what happened.

The Missouri Department of Conservation received reports of large numbers of dead birds found near Sikeston and went to investigate.
Sikeston is located in southeast Missouri.

Biologist Kevin Brunke found more than 1,000 dead birds — red-winged blackbirds, brown-headed cowbirds, grackles and European starlings — in fields and neighborhoods near Wakefield Road, the post said.

They also found several injured birds in vegetation near the roadway.

Video of the scene can be found here but may be disturbing to some viewers.

Mothershead wrote that the conservation department had received calls about dead and injured birds between 8 and 9 p.m. on Sunday — about the time a thunderstorm rolled into the area, according to the post.

One resident reported “hearing birds [hit] the ground” near her home, the post said.

Mothershead and Brunke think it’s likely the flock got caught up in the storm. “... it’s reasonable to conclude that the flock spooked during the weather event, and were caught up in high winds or lightning,” Mothershead wrote. “As birds couldn’t recover in flight, many fell to the ground and perished or became injured.”

https://www.kansascity.com/news/nation-world/national/article240833731.html

maximus otter
 
Thousands of migratory birds have been discovered dead across a wide area of New Mexico, and no one seems to be certain what's killing them.
Hundreds of thousands of migratory birds have been found dead in New Mexico

Biologists at New Mexico State University are trying to find out why hundreds of thousands of migratory birds have been found dead across the state.

The mystery started August 20 with the discovery of a large number of dead birds at the US Army White Sands Missile Range and White Sands National Monument, according to Martha Desmond, a professor at the university's department of fish, wildlife and conservation ecology.

What was first believed to be an isolated incident turned out to be a much more serious problem when hundreds more dead birds were found in regions across the state. including Doña Ana County, Jemez Pueblo, Roswell and Socorro. ...

Dead migratory birds -- which include species such as warblers, bluebirds, sparrows, blackbirds, the western wood pewee and flycatchers -- are also being found in Colorado, Texas and Mexico. ...

Residents and biologists reported seeing birds acting strangely before they died. For example, birds that are normally seen in shrubs and trees have been spotted on the ground looking for food and chasing bugs. ...

One of the factors biologists believe may have contributed to the deaths of the birds is the wildfires burning in California and other Western states, which may have forced the birds into early migration before they were ready. ...

Some birds might have had to change their migratory pathways, while others could have inhaled smoke and sustained lung damage.

While the fires and dry weather in New Mexico may have amplified the number of migratory bird deaths, that still leaves many questions. ...

FULL STORY: https://www.cnn.com/2020/09/14/us/new-mexico-birds-died-migration-trnd/index.html
 
This Science Alert article provides more info on the mysterious mass die-off of migratory birds in the American Southwest region:

Mysterious, Sudden Mass Die-Off in The US Could Be Killing Millions of Birds
https://www.sciencealert.com/myster...t-in-us-may-number-in-millions-scientists-say

If you are in the southwestern United States and discover any unusual - or unusually plentiful - dead birds you can report them to the Southwest Avian Mortality Project to help biologists survey and analyze whatever it is that's going on.

Photographs should accompany any online reports, and certain additional data is required. For details see:

https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/southwest-avian-mortality-project
 
This mass death might due to fireworks.

Vid at link.

Hundreds of dead birds cover Rome street

Hundreds of dead birds were found lying around the Termini train station on Via Cavour in Rome on New Year's night. The exact cause of death is unclear, but Diego Finecchia believed it was linked to firework displays that took place in the city to mark the beginning of the new year. Rome had announced a fireworks ban ahead of New Year's Eve as a means of keeping citizens, animals and the city's archaeological heritage safe, but the ban was largely ignored.

Footage courtesy of Diego Finecchia

Published 1 hour ago

https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-europe-55511016
 
Strange mass deaths of seabirds.

An "unprecedented" number of seabirds have been found dead or starving along the Northumberland and Scottish coasts.

Hundreds of guillemots and razorbills and smaller numbers of puffins and kittiwakes have been affected but the cause of their suffering is unknown.

The UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology (CEH) has ruled out bird flu but is investigating other possible causes such as poisoning from algal blooms. CEH ecologist Dr Francis Daunt said "several hundred" birds had died.

Over recent weeks carcasses have been found along the east coast of Britain, from Orkney down to Northumberland and North Yorkshire.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-tyne-58601859
 
Hundreds of ravens have been dropping out of the sky over a village in southwest Siberia.
Mystery as hundreds of dead ravens fall out of the sky in apocalyptic scenes

Experts are baffled as hundreds of dead ravens have been falling from the sky in apocalyptic scenes.

The strange phenomena took place in Ust-Tarka, a village in the Russian region of Novosibirsk Oblast in south-western Siberia, with the black-feathered birds' bodies littering the streets.

Sergei Kuzlyakin, chief physician of the Ust-Tarksk veterinary department, told local media that tests have been carried out to establish the cause of the mass bird death.

Speaking to NSK he said other birds and animals had apparently not been harmed, only the ravens and that there have been "several hundred deaths per day".

Dr Kuzlyakin said: "I have been working as a doctor since 1975 and this is the first time I've seen this. I am shocked."

The expert added that some of the bodies have been sent to Novosibirsk to be analysed in a bid to find out what happened, while the others have been collected up and cremated. ...

He suspects that the common ravens were poisoned.

"Most likely we are talking about poisoning. But what the birds were poisoned with is also not clear yet, the results of the study will help to determine this too," he said.

Ornithologist Alexei Yanovsky told NSK that if the ravens were poisoned they may have ingested pesticides.
FULL STORY: https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/mystery-hundreds-dead-ravens-fall-25089917
 
Birds fall dead from sky 'like rain' in mystery mass death

The dead starlings plummeted down on locals and cars outside a hospital in Spain

Out of the hundreds of birds which fell, two have been taken by a regional environment agency for analysis, with Ferrol City Council also joining in on the investigation.

A similar event took place earlier this year in nearby Tarragona when hundreds of birds fell from the sky due to toxic chemicals which had been released by a petrochemical plant in the area.
1638534995945.png
 
Its Starlings a lot, isnt it?

Failed H+S in murmurations?
 
Hospitals often have vents on the roof to release gasses used in operations,
whether this is anything to do with it is another matter.
:omr:
 
Daily Mail mentions a huge ‘electrical bang’ triggering the birdfall.

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.'
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/ar...dead-sky-road-near-Pembrokeshire-village.html
 
Wile they may have just flown into the ground I got the impression that
a sudden down draught had forced them into the ground.
:omr:
 
Wile they may have just flown into the ground I got the impression that
a sudden down draught had forced them into the ground.
:omr:
That's what I thought too. However, the trees and bushes aren't blowing about.
I think this was a murmuration of birds that flew too close to the ground, with the ones at the bottom hitting the ground and buildings at speed. Some may have been stunned and survived, but the impact was probably too much for most.
 
They are very densely packed together, could they due to this be loosing lift
and not having the height to recover ploughing in.
 
They are very densely packed together, could they due to this be loosing lift
and not having the height to recover ploughing in.
That's a good point.
 
Police in the Mexican city of Chihuahua have reported close to 100 yellow-headed blackbirds suddenly falling out of the sky:
https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-latin-america-60383394?xtor=AL-72-[partner]-[bbc.news.twitter]-[headline]-[news]-[bizdev]-[isapi]&at_custom4=06E46B2A-8DEF-11EC-9811-1E044844363C&at_custom1=[post+type]&at_campaign=64&at_medium=custom7&at_custom2=twitter&at_custom3=@BBCWorld

The headline says "flock of blackbirds drops dead in mid-flight" but I find this misleading, judging by the video. Looks more they've suddenly crashed, for some unknown reason.
I agree with 'Ulalume,' Played slowly, you can see that quite a few of the birds crash into the ground, then some are able to re-launch themselves into the air again. So they definitely have not "dropped dead in mid-air," they over-dive towards the ground! Sounds more like some kind of signal might have interfered with their awareness of their positioning in the air.

Either that or it's a case of follow thy leader. . . one that wasn't so spatially aware and got it wrong, and some of the others followed to their demise!

Could also purely have happened through blind panic (as birds are very vulnerable to), especially as it has been mentioned that there was a report by someone driving along with birds falling around them, who is said to have heard several loud "bangs" which they thought was made via an overly far too loud bird scarer, which sounds far more of a plausible reason for them suddenly crashing in number onto the ground!
 
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Experts have offered three initial hypotheses about the cause of this bird self-massacre, based on prior such incidents.
A predator could have sent hundreds of blackbirds crashing to their death in Mexico

"The cause of this bizarre and troubling incident is honestly anybody's guess at this point," said Carlos Botero, assistant professor of biology at Washington University in St. Louis.

The footage didn't show the entire swarm of birds, but Botero hypothesized that they could have flown through a cloud of lethal chemicals. Autopsies of the dead bird specimens would need to be completed to determine if that was the case, he said.

A predator could have also sent the birds frantically flying away, Botero added.

Richard Broughton, an ornithologist at the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, was almost certain the maneuver was to avoid a predator like a peregrine falcon.

"Blackbirds form tight flocks, called a 'murmuration,' that swirls in the sky to try and confuse the falcon so it cannot pick a target," Broughton said via email.

To combat this strategy, the falcon dives straight into the flock of birds to separate out a target, Broughton explained. When this happens, the blackbirds try to avoid it. ...

In the video, viewers are likely seeing the birds try and escape a predator that attacked them from above, he said. The birds headed down, but some could not pull up fast enough, Broughton added.

Assuming the time stamp of 7:42 p.m. local time on the video is accurate, the birds were likely leaving their nocturnal roost nearby, said Andrew Farnsworth, senior research associate at The Cornell Lab of Ornithology in Ithaca, New York.

In addition to the predatory theory, Farnsworth suggested that a loud noise startling the birds was another possibility. This has happened in the past with other species of birds, he said. ...
FULL STORY: https://www.cnn.com/2022/02/18/world/blackbird-swarm-crash-mexico-scn/index.html
 
For many years we used to see and hear 2 or 3 massive flocks of starlings fly
over our house a dusk every night, you could hear their wing beats even in the
house, they would pass over our garden and on over the river towards Fleetwood,
then they just stopped not seen them since, not a clue as to what happened to
them or were if anywhere they go now.
:dunno:
 
Waterfowl Fall from the Sky by the Hundreds as Lunar Eclipse Coincides with Snowstorm in Central Oregon

At least 30 tundra swans, along with snow geese and other waterfowl died in a mass casualty event in Central and Eastern Oregon last week. Residents in Harney and Wallowa Counties reported hundreds of waterfowl falling from the sky early Wednesday morning, Nov. 9.

Officials explain that a lunar eclipse coincided with a severe snowstorm the night before, which likely disoriented the birds, causing them to crash into the ground, power lines, telephone poles, and other objects.

The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife responded to the event, and district biologist Lee Foster reached out to Think Wild, a wildlife rehabilitation hospital in Bend, to help care for the wounded birds. Most of the fallen birds suffered fatal or non-repairable injuries, but rehabbers were able to save one injured tundra swan that was found in the town of Dewsey.

Think Wild’s lead veterinarian Dr. Laura Acevedo told reporters that the bird was unable to fly but would likely recover in time.

https://www.outdoorlife.com/conservation/waterfowl-die-lunar-eclipse-oregon/

maximus otter
 
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