1,000 dead black birds have fallen from the sky in Beebe, Arkansas

[Aafke]

I expect that someone sent this message but I couldn't find it.

The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission says more than 1,000 dead black birds have fallen from the sky in Beebe.

The agency says its enforcement officers began receiving reports about the dead birds about 11:30 p.m. Friday. Officials say the birds fell over a one-mile area of the city and that no other birds were found outside of that area.

Some of the dead birds will be sent for testing to the state Livestock and Poultry Commission lab and the National Wildlife Health Center lab in Madison, Wis.

Commission ornithologist Karen Rowe says that similar events have occurred elsewhere. In other cases, she says test results "usually were inconclusive," although the birds showed physical trauma. She says the flock could have been hit by lightning or high-altitude hail.

http://www.abc24.com/news/local/story/More-Than-1-000-Dead-Birds-Fall-from-Sky-in/DkLyvNjiSEW6eGOw3EB8Tw.cspx

Very strange!!!
greetings Aafke

[Donna]

Very strange indeed Aafke. That's way too many birds, what is going on? Thanks for the story. Maybe MAK heard something, she's in AK.

[MAK]

Very strange indeed Aafke. That's way too many birds, what is going on? Thanks for the story. Maybe MAK heard something, she's in AK.

   This is the first I've heard about this. Beebe is about 200 miles southeast of here just north of Little Rock,AR. I can't see how lightening could hit that many birds all at once but I can definitely see hail taking them down. They get very large hail around here. I witnessed it first hand on New Years eve morning. I have a pic that maybe Donna can post of me holding a couple hail balls. Big stuff!

[Donna]

over 2000 birds graced the skies of Bebee on Friday night. Residents of Beebe in Arkansas have been left baffled after more than 2,000 blackbirds fell to their deaths in a section of the city.

One resident said: 'Millions, millions fly over every night. You look up at the sky and it's just black.
Resident Melissa Weatherly told the local THVstation: 'It was horrible, you could not even get down the road without running over hundreds. It was that bad.'

Officials with the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission flew over the area and determined it's a one mile stretch. Some ducks were also found dead in the area.


One thing that the Game and Fish Commission's Karen Rowe has ruled out is poisoning. She said testing would begin on Monday.

Poor birds!

[MAK]

Just shows how unpredictable Mother Nature can be. The hail storm was isolated to just a small area here. Thankfully my sisters' Jeep was in the garage and none of the cattle on the ranch perished(although I'm sure they had sore backs). It lasted less than a minute. One of the wildest things I've ever experienced.

[jeanne]

Now there has been a fish kill in an Arkansas river:

http://www.cnn.com/2011/US/01/02/arkansas.fish.kill/index.html?hpt=T2

[Donna]

Sheesh, what is going on in Arkansas??? So sad. Now they say 5,000 birds???

[jeanne]

Sheesh, what is going on in Arkansas??? So sad. Now they say 5,000 birds???

I heard 5000 too!  So sad!

[Donna]

A mysterious event that caused thousands of red-wing blackbirds to rain down from the sky New Year's Eve in the Arkansas town of Beebe may have occurred when loud noises or fireworks frightened a flock that roosts in a neighborhood, causing them to fly into buildings and other obstacles, a state ornithologist said.
But others still think weather could have played a role.
Preliminary necropsies on the dead birds by the state Livestock and Poultry Commission "showed trauma," said Karen Rowe, Arkansas Game and Fish Commission ornithologist. "The birds obviously hit something very hard and had hemorrhages." Beyond that, all the birds were healthy.
The state is also performing chemical and disease testing, but the results will take a week.
Neighbors reported five to 12 booming noises in the eastern part of Beebe, a community of 5,000 northeast of Little Rock. "They reported it sounding like a cannon or transformer exploding," but officials are still investigating to find out what the noises were, Rowe said.
The flock then rose from its roost and tried to fly away, but possibly because of fireworks in the sky "they naturally wouldn't want to go up high," she said. "They were below the roof line, so they were hitting houses, mail boxes, chimneys and walls."
Blackbirds have very poor night vision.
The first calls about the incident came in at about 11 p.m. on New Year's Eve, according to Keith Stephens, with the Game and Fish Commission.
"They told us there were birds falling out of the sky. After we verified that this wasn't some kind of prank, one of our wildlife officers went over there and sure enough, there were birds falling," he said.
The Department of Emergency Management tested the air and found nothing amiss, so the state isn't putting out any health warnings, he said.
Many theories being floated about causes of the die off can be discounted, said Dan Cristol, a professor of biology at the Institute for Integrative Bird Behavior Studies at the College of William & Mary in Virginia. The birds couldn't have eaten a fast-acting pesticide because they would have eaten it during the day and died long before they began to roost at night, he said. A slower-acting pesticide wouldn't have affected them all at the same time. A hail storm is unlikely because they would have had to be flying for that to happen, and at that hour red-wing blackbirds are asleep.
Rough weather had hit the state earlier Friday, but the worst of it was well east of Beebe by the time the birds started falling, said Chris Buonanno, a forecaster with the National Weather Service in North Little Rock.
But one expert said he can't discount weather as a cause.
"Thousands of birds encountered something, whether it was a lighting strike or hail or something, and that caused the trauma and death," said Robert Meese, an avian ecologist at the University of California-Davis. "I don't see any way that they could have flown into obstructions, because then the birds should have been at the base of the objects. ... This was a scattering."
The number of dead blackbirds is more than 3,000, Rowe said. "Environmental Services says they picked up approximately 2,000 birds." There were others they couldn't reach, she said, and "scavengers probably carried off quite a bit — if you're a cat, it's Christmas dinner."
Red-wing blackbirds are native to North America and gather in large flocks in the winter, generally settling near food sources for weeks at a time, said Mike Parr of the American Bird Conservancy in Washington, D.C.
The number of birds that died Friday is high, he noted, but "to put the number in perspective, windows, communication towers, power lines and wind turbines kill tens of millions of birds each year, probably hundreds of millions."
In an unrelated event, a major fish kill was reported on the Arkansas River last week, Stephens said. Approximately 80,000 to 100,000 dead freshwater drum were found along a 17-mile stretch of the river, about 100 miles from Beebe, between the Ozark Lock and Dam and a point due south of Hartman.
State officials believe the fish kill was disease related. Specimens have been sent to state labs for testing.
The incidents — coming during a traditionally slow news period — made for a wild weekend for state Game and Fish staffers.
"It's the craziest thing I've ever experienced and I've been doing this for 25 years," Stephens said. "I'll bet you I've had 100 calls today, I've done 25 interviews. I did Al-Jazeera live last night."

USA Today

[Bobbie Ireland]

This BBC report says that fireworks could have been the cause.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-12105157

[Bird Crazy]

  I love Red Wing Blackbirds, When they come home I know spring is really here. I hope it wasn't any of the ones that nest here. 

[Annette]

  

[Aafke]

But one expert said he can't discount weather as a cause.
"Thousands of birds encountered something, whether it was a lighting strike or hail or something, and that caused the trauma and death," said Robert Meese, an avian ecologist at the University of California-Davis. "I don't see any way that they could have flown into obstructions, because then the birds should have been at the base of the objects. ... This was a scattering."

That's a real coincident, that Kerwins friend is studying at that university. I will ask Kerwin if he ask her if she knows anything from this strange situation.
greetings Aafke

[Aafke]

I just heard that there are now 500 dead birds in Pointe. Coupee Parsh, Louisiana
greetings Aafke

[Wing Goose]

Hi Aafke and All --
I live in Davis, CA where the University of California at Davis
is.  Actually Robert  (Bob) Meese is a friend of mine.  It
is nice to see him globally recognized.  I have known him for
over 23 years.
   
        Lola