I think the dead bird thing is creepy.

[Jena]

There is no way these birds died from loud noises. That is just stupid. How many times do thousands of dead birds fall from the sky during a coon hunt?? I live in a town with a bad crow problem. They go shoot fireworks at them all night long and they are fine.

I don't think it's UFO's or anything weird, but there is definitely a different reason than the one they are giving.


http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/04/us...html?src=twrhp

[naturelover]

They were all redwinged blackbirds and starlings that fell out of the air at midnight. Blackbirds and starlings don't fly at night, they roost at dusk in large flocks crowded together in trees for safety.

They are nuisance birds to many farmers because they can cause so much damage. My guess is that some farmer in Beebe (the town where it happened) sprayed something noxious on the birds roosting in his crop trees/bushes just before midnight, forcing them to take sudden flight into the dark and then overcoming them in mid-flight.

An examination of their digestive tracts should help to determine what kind of crop area they had been roosting in before they took flight. It will be easy enough to determine what toxin was used on them. That ought to help narrow down the location of where the birds came from and then enable an investigation to determine who it was in that location that sprayed them.

.

[Jena]

I doubt that a farmer poisoned them. How would they be sprayed? By airplane? Wouldn't that rouse them first?

There aren't any crops growing this time of year, are there? What would be the incentive to do this right now?

4000 birds will take quite a large area to roost. Too large to spray from the ground anyways.

If it was that easy to poison birds, we would have poisoned the ones here! They did come up with a poison plan, but it involved leaving bait stations out for weeks, then a die-off that would also take weeks. It was not approved for our bird problem.

[pcwerk]

I hate this...red-wing blackbirds are cool. They remind me of the Mockingbirds
in Texas since they really have an attitude! Hope they find out what caused
it...

[JanS]

Poison was ruled out earlier today.

[Paumon]

Originally Posted by Jena

I doubt that a farmer poisoned them. How would they be sprayed? By airplane? Wouldn't that rouse them first?

There aren't any crops growing this time of year, are there? What would be the incentive to do this right now?

4000 birds will take quite a large area to roost. Too large to spray from the ground anyways.

If it was that easy to poison birds, we would have poisoned the ones here! They did come up with a poison plan, but it involved leaving bait stations out for weeks, then a die-off that would also take weeks. It was not approved for our bird problem.

4000 small birds like that don't take up a lot of space in trees when they're all clustered together shoulder to shoulder on branches. Farmers here knock them out of trees at night with water cannons and fire hoses just to discourage them because they cause so much destruction and leave such a horrible guano mess beneath the trees and on the branches. If somebody was minded to kill them it would be easy to put some kind of toxin into the water reservoir that's being used for the water cannons.

There is some speculation that it was trauma to internal breast tissue that killed them, which suggests further that something hit them in the breasts from below while they were roosting. Obviously something scared them away into flight.

http://www.cnn.com/2011/US/01/03/ark...rds/index.html

(CNN) -- The thousands of birds that fell from the sky just before midnight New Year's Eve in Arkansas likely died from massive trauma, according to a preliminary report released Monday.

The birds -- most of which were dead when they were found -- were red-winged blackbirds and starlings, and they were found within a one-mile area of Beebe, about 40 miles northeast of Little Rock, the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission said.

Keith Stephens, a spokesman for the commission, said the birds showed evidence of trauma in the breast tissue, with blood clots in the body cavity and a lot of internal bleeding. All major organs were normal.
He cited a preliminary report conducted by the Arkansas Livestock and Poultry Commission.

Further tests will be done to rule out other causes, but the birds suffered from acute physical trauma leading to internal hemorrhage and death. There was no sign of any chronic or infectious disease," the report said, according to the game and fish commission.

As of Saturday, between 4,000 and 5,000 birds had been found dead, said Stephens.

Karen Rowe, an ornithologist for the game and fish commission, said the incident is not that unusual and is often caused by a lightning strike or high-altitude hail.

A strong storm system moved through the state earlier in the day Friday. Officials also speculated that fireworks shot by New Year's revelers in the area might have caused severe stress in the birds.

"It's completely indescribable how many birds were here. I've never been anything like it," said Melissa Weatherly, a Beebe resident.

Blackbirds do not normally fly at night and it was not immediately clear what caused the odd behavior. Loud noises were reported shortly before the birds began falling, according to the game and fish commission.
"The birds obviously hit something very hard and had hemorrhages," said Rowe.

"Initial examinations of a few of the dead birds showed trauma. Whether or not this trauma was from the force of hitting the ground when they fell or from something that contacted them in the air, we don't know," she said.

[arabian knight]

Why not mention the 100,000 Fish that died a day earlier, about a 100 miles away. No report as to what killed those fish either.

[beccachow]

Strange...as if they had flown into a huge window in the sky. Reminds me of Stephen King's The Dome. Just sayin', lol.

AK, I hadn't heard about the fish.

Crossing Arkansas from my list of places to go when I retire.

[arabian knight]

Originally Posted by beccachow

Strange...as if they had flown into a huge window in the sky. Reminds me of Stephen King's The Dome. Just sayin', lol.

AK, I hadn't heard about the fish.

Crossing Arkansas from my list of places to go when I retire.

Not as of Tonights Nightly News.

[beccachow]

Originally Posted by arabian knight

Not as of Tonights Nightly News.

I had asked AK if she had heard any news on the fish, then went back and saw where she said there was no news, so edited MY post while she was responding to my first one. In case that seemed a bit confusing of an answer by AK, lol.

Meanwhile, I am VERY curious and find it a HUGE coincidence. Too huge.

[ChristyACB]

Originally Posted by beccachow

Strange...as if they had flown into a huge window in the sky. Reminds me of Stephen King's The Dome. Just sayin', lol.

AK, I hadn't heard about the fish.

Crossing Arkansas from my list of places to go when I retire.

I thought that exact same thing when I saw this! LOL.

I do think it is very strange that fish kills, bird kills and anything else that might be found later all happened at such a fortuitous time.

[poppy]

Likely weather related. Storms can suck up flocks of birds and they are saying they died by trauma to their internal organs and internal bleeding. That is consistent with being slammed together in a violent wind or getting hit by high altitude hail. It has happened before. Maybe some of you would prefer this explanation some guy posted on the story.

User Image
buubalama wrote:
Dick Cheny is a fly fisherman-and all of the sudden thousands of innocent fish are murdered. Dick Cheny is a bird hunter-and all of the sudden birds fall to horrible deaths.
George Bush, Sarah Palin AND Rand Paul eat fish. THIS IS A CONSPIRACY obviously by Great Satan Republicans! First birds and fish, then our Health care! Republicans are out to stomp the our environment one fish, one bird at a time. WHATS NEXT AMERICA??? PUPPIES IN WOOD CHIPPERS?? WAKE UP AND SUPPORT THE OBAMA NATIONAL FISH AND FOWL SUPPORT TAX BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE!

[barber lady]

Where is the CDC? They are usually first on the scene. Crows and starlings are very smart birds. Can't wait to see what comes of it.

[poppy]

Originally Posted by barber lady

Where is the CDC? They are usually first on the scene. Crows and starlings are very smart birds. Can't wait to see what comes of it.

There has been no sign of disease. They died from trauma. BTW, these weren't crows. They were mostly red wing blackbirds. Pretty but not real smart.

[Bearfootfarm]

There is some speculation that it was trauma to internal breast tissue that killed them

but the birds suffered from acute physical trauma leading to internal hemorrhage and death.

The answer is right there:

Karen Rowe, an ornithologist for the game and fish commission, said the incident is not that unusual and is often caused by a lightning strike or high-altitude hail.

[Jena]

Was it storming there?

[Bearfootfarm]

Was it storming there?

A strong storm system moved through the state earlier in the day Friday.

The info is all there.

It only takes one bolt of lightning in the right spot

[arabian knight]

Originally Posted by beccachow

Strange...as if they had flown into a huge window in the sky. Reminds me of Stephen King's The Dome. Just sayin', lol.

AK, I hadn't heard about the fish.

Crossing Arkansas from my list of places to go when I retire.

Oh ok. I thought you asked about any new news, on what cause the fish kill. it was on the news tonight along with the report on the birds.
First Birds Fall, Now 100,000 Fish Dead in Arkansas

An estimated 100,000 dead drum fish are floating along a 20-mile stretch of the Arkansas River and washing up on the river's banks near the town of Ozark in the northwestern part of the state.

http://www.aolnews.com/2011/01/03/fi...d-in-arkansas/

[poppy]

Originally Posted by arabian knight

Oh ok. I thought you asked about any new news, on what cause the fish kill. it was on the news tonight along with the report on the birds.
First Birds Fall, Now 100,000 Fish Dead in Arkansas

http://www.aolnews.com/2011/01/03/fi...d-in-arkansas/

I saw on an another board that they think the fish kill was due to a species specific disease since other fish did not die. Drum are fun to catch and can get pretty big. We also called them white perch around here. Some folks eat them but they have a lot of bones.

[poppy]

On another board the tin foil crowd is saying there was another bird kill in Argentina at the same time as well as Manitoba and Louisiana since then. They haven't posted any links and so I cannot verify it. Maybe it happens more often than we know. Of course, the folks over there have their own theories ranging from HAARP to a pending major earthquake on the New Madrid fault. Makes for interesting reading.