In addition to misidentifying some of the birds, these articles have some puzzling statements. Here's one that stuck out: "Blackbirds have poor eyesight, and they started colliding with things."
The eyesight of most birds is their most highly developed sense--as you might expect from an animal that flies. As the Sibley bird behavior guide notes "the acuity of avian eyesight is unparalleled among vertebrates: On average, birds can see two to three times more sharply than humans..."
I don't have any specific info on the eyesight of icterids, but would be surprised if they depart dramatically from that general rule. If anyone has reliable info, I'd be interested.
Best,
Jim
It's probably one of those uncommon phenomena that regularly happens but goes largely unreported. Now that it's hitting the headlines, every case is being reported.
The images shown on the TV this a.m. showed a road filled with dead birds and a couple of closeups showed there were Starlings mixed in as well. I don't remember hearing anything about Starlings in the mix.
I prefer the theory that somehow it's linked with Sarah Palin's tour of the south. Coincidence? I don't think so.
Monsanto is located in Arkansas. Dear God we're done for.|>|
Hi Jim
I think the quote about the 'Blackbirds' having bad eyesight does not make sense as the birds have to survive and stop themselves being predated on ie by Sparrowhawks :eek!:
Imagine a flock of shortsighted Blackbirds flying about the planet - it does not make sense as all animals are equiped to protect themselves and live as part of the eco system. o
Regards
Kathy
x
The images shown on the TV this a.m. showed a road filled with dead birds and a couple of closeups showed there were Starlings mixed in as well. I don't remember hearing anything about Starlings in the mix.
Birds and fish, what's next....?
Wasn't there something about millions of leaves falling out of trees around the same time too?
The 2 species often roost together, so the presence of starlings among the dead Red-wings is maybe not unexpected. Grackles, cowbirds & crows also sometimes form part of these mixed species roosts, but AFAIK there have been no reports of these birds as yet among the present crop of casualties.
They were clearly Starlings so I don't know whether they are not considered explainable because of their being an introduced species and not worth mentioning or what. Not good reporting as far as I'm concerned though.
The articles are making more sense now, but are still devoid of any real evidence. They now say: "Blackbirds have poor night vision and typically do not fly at night." That I can believe as opposed to earlier articles that said Blackbirds had very poor eyesight. But it's still implausible, though not impossible, that there would be several freakish occurrences in the same region of the country over the span of a few days and one would have a unique cause unrelated to the others. If they don't know what caused the other deaths, they can't really know that that same cause was involved in the deaths where there were fireworks. The presence of fireworks may have simply been a coincedence, and I've seen nothing in the articles to suggest otherwise. Just a convenient scapegoat to put the Arkansas publics mind at ease.