Bird kill

Bird kill is a localized event resulting in the death of large numbers of birds at the same time.

Scientific explanations

Large die offs of animals are not unusual in nature, and happen for a variety of reasons including bad weather, disease, and poisonings,[1] with pollution and climate change adding to the stresses on wildlife.[2] According to the USGS National Wildlife Health Center in the US, 175 mass deaths events exceeding 1,000 birds has occurred over the past 10 years.[3]

Russian scientist Afanasiy Ilich Tobonov researched mass animal deaths in the 1990s and concluded that the mass deaths of birds and wildlife in the Sakha Republic were noted only along the flight paths of space rockets.[4]

Examples
  • In 2004 thousands of tiny birds fell from the sky over Chinese president Hu Jintao's birthplace Taizhou, Jiangsu. The event was seen as a worrying omen for his rule to come.[5]
  • 15 January 2009, in New York City. A large flock of Canada geese was struck by US Airways Flight 1549, disabling both of the Airbus A320's engines and killing an unknown number of geese.
  • 2009 in Franklin Township, Somerset County, New Jersey. A culling with the bird poison (avicide) DRC-1339 received national attention after USDA employees dispensed the substance in Griggstown, New Jersey to kill an estimated 5,000 starlings that plagued feed lots and dairies on local farms. When "it began raining birds" community members became alarmed, unsure whether a toxin or disease was at work. Two property owners in the area reported collecting over 150 birds each from their land.[6][7]
  • December, 2010, in St-Augustin-de-Desmaures, Quebec. More than 80 dead pigeons discovered.[8]
  • 31 December 2010, in Guelph, Ontario. Geese and ducks panicked, some of them died shortly after the beginning of New Year's Eve fireworks at 8:10 pm, 31 December 2010.[9]
  • 31 December 2010, in Beebe, Arkansas. 3,000 red-winged blackbirds and European starlings died. Arkansas state wildlife authorities first received reports on 31 December 2010, shortly before midnight. Further investigation revealed the birds fell over a one-mile area of Beebe, with no other dead birds found outside that concentrated zone. The birds showed signs of physical trauma, leading one ornithologist with the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission to speculate the blackbirds might have been killed by lightning, high-altitude hail or possibly fireworks. The birds were sent to laboratories in Georgia and Wisconsin for necropsies to determine the cause of death. On 5 January 2011 the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission confirmed that the incident was caused by a resident setting off professional-grade fireworks, startling the birds into a panic flight.[10] One year later a virtual reprise took place with 5,000 birds plunging to the ground. (See below)
  • 3 January 2011, in Pointe Coupee Parish, Louisiana. 500 red-winged blackbirds and starlings died.[11]
  • 5 January 2011, in Faenza, Italy. Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of turtle doves fell dead from the sky.[12][13]
  • 5 January 2011, in Falköping in Sweden. Between 50 and 100 jackdaws died. Some are believed to have been struck by cars or trucks, but others showed no sign of such trauma.[14][15]
  • 5 January 2011, in Constanța, Romania. Eyewitnesses saw dozens of starlings falling from skies "like stones".[16]
  • 22 October 2011, in Wasaga Beach, Ontario, Canada. Thousands of dead loons, ducks, and seagulls washed ashore, believed to have died from a botulism outbreak.[17]
  • 12 December 2011, in Utah, about 1,500 grebes crash-landed on a Walmart parking lot, a highway, and football fields, apparently mistaking them for a body of water at night.[18]
  • 31 December 2011 saw a recurrence of what had happened in Beebe, Arkansas on the previous New Year's Eve. Several hundred blackbirds had plunged to their deaths according to an early report by the local television station KATV which also reported that its radar had shown a "large mass" over the town.[19]
  • 30 January 2018, in Draper, Utah. More than 200 birds fell from the sky. 17 remained alive and were transferred to a local rehabilitation center.[20]
  • 11 December 2019, in Wales. About 300 starlings found dead with their internal organs spewing out.[21]
  • 6 October 2023, 1000 songbirds found dead after striking McCormick Place, a convention center in Chicago, Illinois.[22]

See also

References
  1. "Birds Falling From the Sky Not Unusual". 6 January 2011.
  2. "SCIENCE NEWS Mass bird deaths rare, not apocalyptic: experts". 6 January 2011. Archived from the original on 11 July 2012. Retrieved 8 January 2011.
  3. "Black-bird die-off Investigation". Archived from the original on 14 January 2011. Retrieved 20 January 2011.
  4. "Group - Afanasiy Ilich Tobonov". Archived from the original on 23 July 2011. Retrieved 8 January 2011.
  5. "Rational help at hand when omens seem bad". The Standard. Archived from the original on 19 October 2012. Retrieved 11 September 2011.
  6. Epstein, Victor (27 January 2009). "Bird culling fallout alarms New Jersey community". AP Online. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015.
  7. "Dead birds in Franklin Township were killed on purpose". 26 January 2009. But no humans or pets were ever at risk, said the USDA, contending the pesticide, known as DRC-1339, is inert once it is eaten by the birds and becomes metabolized.
  8. "More than 80 dead birds found in small Quebec town", Toronto Star, 7 January 2011, retrieved 8 January 2011
  9. Geese die during fireworks display Archived 2011-01-23 at the Wayback Machine, Rob O'Flanagan, Guelph Mercury, 4 January 2011
  10. Weise, Elizabeth (5 January 2011). "Fireworks likely cause of massive Ark. bird kill". USA Today. Retrieved 7 January 2011. It was someone shooting off professional grade fireworks in a residential district, scaring the night-blind birds out of their roost into a 25-mph flight that ran them into houses, signs and even the ground, says Karen Rowe, Arkansas Game and Fish Commission ornithologist.
  11. Larkey, Nichole; AP (4 January 2011). "500 birds found dead in Louisiana". Labarre, Louisiana. Archived from the original on 7 January 2011. Retrieved 7 January 2011.
  12. Travis Walter Donovan (6 January 2015). "Birds Dying In Italy: Thousands Of Turtle Doves Fall Dead From Sky". The Huffington Post. Retrieved 7 January 2011.
  13. "Faenza: la pioggia delle tortore morte si colora di blu". GeaPress (in Italian). 5 January 2011. Archived from the original on 7 January 2011. Retrieved 7 January 2011.
  14. "Mysterious bird deaths hit Sweden". BBC News. 5 January 2011. Retrieved 7 January 2011.
  15. "Swedish bird mystery: Deaths due to 'external injuries'". BBC News. 6 January 2011. Retrieved 7 January 2011.
  16. Jetzt auch tote Vögel in Italien, Blick.ch, 8 January 2011
  17. Jackson, Emily (22 October 2011), "Thousands of dead birds wash ashore at Wasaga Beach", Toronto Star, retrieved 24 October 2011
  18. Melissa Block (15 December 2011). "Ornithologist Discusses Causes Of Bird Downings". NPR. Retrieved 16 January 2012.
  19. "Dead blackbirds fall again in Arkansas town". Boston Globe. AP. 31 December 2011. Retrieved 1 January 2012.
  20. "Hundreds of birds fall from sky in Draper". 30 January 2018. Retrieved 30 January 2018.
  21. Shaw, Amelia (11 December 2019). "Mystery as up to 300 dead birds fall out of the sky with organs spewing out". mirror. Retrieved 11 December 2019.
  22. "Nearly 1,000 migrating songbirds perish after crashing into windows at Chicago exhibition hall". AP News. 6 October 2023. Retrieved 6 October 2023.
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