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Blackbirds fall from Arkansas Sky (1 Viewer)

KCFoggin said:
Do you suppose this has been going on for longer periods of time and because everything is so viral now, it is seen by more people?
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I really don’t have a view about mass bird kills (for want of a better name) in general, mainly because I don’t have a good command of the facts. In particular, I have no real feel for how common they are & for the circumstances under which they normally occur. It would be nice to think that reliable information might become available as a result of the current media focus on the subject, but my guess is that interest will fizzle out in a few days & we'll end up none the wiser.
 
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Suggesting that this happens all the time, I am reminded of all the shark attacks that occured during 2001. Every week it seemed like another swimmer was attacked. Like they were making another JAWS sequel. Discovery Shark Week didn't lessen the hype any either. Anyway, I couldn't figure out if this was a new sudden change of nature or a series of very slow news months. But for some strange reason the shark attacks stopped that September. Maybe they migrated or something :)
 
Peewit said:
Another 2 more up to date links on the same story. The first link shows all the wildlife 'group' events of many types of animals and birds.
Just shows it happens the world over and maybe most of the times we do not even notice it
Regards
Kathyx
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Kathy,
You're quite right. Mass mortalities are a puzzle, not a mystery. A mystery would be if hundreds of dead birds suddenly came back to life and leapt into the sky!

On a more serious note, the whole Daily Mail article, and most of the posts quoted take the view that these events are odd, but not unknown, yet the subheading "(how much longer can scientists keep saying this is normal?)"
is standard Daily Mail policy writ large: anger, resentment and rage against 'them', simply because that many of their readers won't read anything more than the headlines. I don't know what the Mail said about this kind of event in earlier articles, but my guess would be that similar, apocalyptic-style headlines would feature.

Long-term, the newspaper industry is losing advertising revenue to the Internet, and their response has been to sack staff with expertise and go for the sensationalist market.

Check some of the posts on science and medicine reporting (and on dieticians) on Ben Goldacre's excellent website www,badscience.net.
It's hugely entertaining as well as genuinely scary!
MJB
 
My bet is on the USDA's Wildlife Service's on some of the bird kills. The information on their starling control is by the freedom of information act. They have the right to kill as many as those birds legally as they want because they are invasive to the USA. Just a wild guess.
 
tmac said:
My bet is on the USDA's Wildlife Service's on some of the bird kills. The information on their starling control is by the freedom of information act. They have the right to kill as many as those birds legally as they want because they are invasive to the USA. Just a wild guess.
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They clearly are in on the South Dakota incident- they said so themselves. However, the other incidents are different. When they poison starlings, the birds tend to end up falling from trees where they landed to roost. The Arkansas birds showed physical trauma, probably from colliding with each other or some object. Also, as shown by the South Dakota incident, the USDA has no problem stating its involvement, which was probably already a matter of public record for anyone who knew where to look.

If this is the government's work, it isn't as part of an agricultural pest-control program (this forum needs a tinfoil hat emoticon).
 
http://www.cnn.com/2011/US/01/27/ar...n=Feed:+rss/cnn_topstories+(RSS:+Top+Stories)

New report on the Arkansas incident is a confirmation of the preliminary one. Death by blunt trauma, no signs of disease or poison. Given the adverse weather conditions, it's likely that this one was a particularly nasty natural phenomenon. Unless of course they are sure the fireworks really did spook the roost, in which case they might have flown into conditions they otherwise would have stayed out of.

I made the mistake of reading some of the comments on that article. It's sad how many people still think there's a conspiracy. Especially when their main reason for disbelieving this report is that birds aren't "stupid enough" to collide with buildings and power lines.
 
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LabradorDuck said:
http://www.cnn.com/2011/US/01/27/ar...n=Feed:+rss/cnn_topstories+(RSS:+Top+Stories)

New report on the Arkansas incident is a confirmation of the preliminary one. Death by blunt trauma, no signs of disease or poison. Given the adverse weather conditions, it's likely that this one was a particularly nasty natural phenomenon. Unless of course they are sure the fireworks really did spook the roost, in which case they might have flown into conditions they otherwise would have stayed out of.

I made the mistake of reading some of the comments on that article. It's sad how many people still think there's a conspiracy. Especially when their main reason for disbelieving this report is that birds aren't "stupid enough" to collide with buildings and power lines.
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That's what they want you to think.
 
I have no idea what's killing all of these birds, but so far none of the explanations seem to satisfy me as to how they died. Something just doesn't smell right about this.
 
I think they should move the location of the fireworks or not have them at all next year and see what happens. The reports say blunt force trauma caused the deaths, but I'm seeing pictures of them laying in the streets. What are they hitting over the streets that cause them to die, or are they dying once they hit the street? Weird!
 
Sounds like the dreaded New Year Fireworks (Fireworks once more) are the culprits. :-C

If a lot of people do use fireworks it must be frightening to any creature if done en masse, and the more populated the area the bigger the Firework displays on the go all at one time.

Regards
Kathy
x
 
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A"Gentleman" in south west Illinois was convicted in federal court several years ago
of violation of stautes regarding federal migratory bird act,1918.Thousands of grackels,
red-wing blackbirds and others were poisoned in an effort to control what was percieved
as damage to his crop land.Nowdays with political polarization such as it is,only a matter
of time before someone tries to make an insidious political statement by acting in such
a way.In above case,well water was contaminated to the extent that personal safety was
an issue as toxins worked their way into ground water.
 
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