BirdForum is the net's largest birding community dedicated to wild birds and birding, and is absolutely FREE!

Register for an account to take part in lively discussions in the forum, post your pictures in the gallery and more.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Allen S. Moore" data-source="post: 1757391" data-attributes="member: 22662">I saw on an Australian website that hundreds or thousands of birds died at Esperance, including many that dropped from the sky. The cause was found to be lead poisoning resulting from the negligent handling of lead ore residues at the local port facility.It would seem strange that small birds would hit the ground in the way described to avoid a predator. It just wouldn't work evolution-wise*, a flock killing itself to avoid one member being eaten by a predator.Allen* The phrase that I was looking for was the survival of the species, as the species just wouldn't survive if it developed the strategy to avoid predation by reacting in the described way!</blockquote>