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Index of Subjects Hi Fred, Helene, et al., As far as I can determine from recent stories authorities in Arizona are still investigating what caused the deaths. A report this morning says that preliminary autopsy reports indicate that the birds did not ingest anything toxic. They also indicate that the birds experienced some sort of blunt force trauma. Possible explanations have focused on lightning, fireworks, and high-altitude hail. Karen Rowe, an ornithologist with Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, said that the cause could be a severe lightning bolt. There was an intense thunderstorm with strong lightning strikes that moved through the area just prior to the reports of falling birds. And/or fireworks could have contributed to the panic experienced by the birds. Karen Rowe added, "The blackbirds were flying at rooftop level instead of treetop level. Blackbirds have poor eyesight, and they started colliding with things." Cheers! Chris On 4-Jan-11, at 9:28 AM, Frederick W. Schueler wrote: > On 1/3/2011 4:07 PM, Helene Van Doninck wrote: >> Getting confused and flying into each other...sounds totally >> bizarre and >> I don't buy it. > > * googling around one finds - http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jan/04/fireworks-arkansas-blackbird-deaths > - as the most recent account of this episode. > > According to this, what happened was collisions during panic due to > fireworks and darkness. Everybody (at least me) has always marveled > at how clumsy startled diurnal Birds are at night, and has wondered > if they could get going fast enough for impacts with branches to > harm them, and of course lethal building strikes by Birds in free > flight is a well-known phenomenon. > > What's suggested is that these Birds didn't "fall from the sky" as > recounted by naive observers, but crashed into each other and > objects, with lethal consequence. Of course, with one of those big > feedlot-country blackbird roosts, it wouldn't take a very high > frequency of resulting mortality to amount to 3K. The roar of wings > and panic when a lot of major fireworks went off over one of those > roosts must have been terrifying.
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