Loud noise sent 5,000 Arkansas birds flying to their deaths

http://www.cnn.com/2011/US/01/05/arkansas.bird.mystery/index.html?hpt=Sbin

By Tristan Smith and Michael Martinez, CNN
January 5, 2011 4:57 p.m. EST

Experts believe a loud noise or event was behind the mass death of as many as 5,000 red-winged blackbirds and starlings in Arkansas on New Year's Eve, when they all flew into buildings at night, veterinarian Dr. John Fischer said Wednesday.

Fischer, of the Southeastern Cooperative Wildlife Disease Study in Athens, Georgia, said the bang startled very large roosts in a square-mile area in Beebe, Arkansas, 40 miles northeast of Little Rock.

Kevin Keel, a wildlife researcher at the center, agreed with the preliminary findings.

The panicked birds slammed into structures low to the ground, and the collisions caused internal trauma, Fischer said. Authorities don't believe disease was behind the birds' deaths.

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Karen Rowe, an ornithologist for the game and fish commission, said this week the incident is not that unusual and is often caused by a lightning strike or high-altitude hail. A strong storm system moved through the state earlier in the day Friday.

Officials have also speculated that fireworks shot by New Year's revelers in the area might have startled the birds. Blackbirds do not normally fly at night.

In a separate incident 450 miles south of Beebe, some 500 red-winged blackbirds, starlings and sparrows were found dead Monday morning on streets in the southern Louisiana community of Labarre.

Fischer told CNN Wednesday that X-rays of those birds found hemorrhaging consistent with traumatic death, and the birds apparently flew into stationary objects and power lines.

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