What made thousands of birds fall from the sky?

[Elok]

Why do dead birds suddenly appear, at the start, of the year?

[Ogie Oglethorpe]

Why do dead birds suddenly appear...

Anorexia ala Karen Carpenter

[Lorizael]

Why do dead birds suddenly appear, at the start, of the year?

*groan*

[SlowwHand]

I'm glad it wasn't elephants.

[Perfection]

Rich white guys.

[Elok]

*groan*

Thank you, thank you, I also do weddings, etc.

[Spaced Cowboy]

http://www.kspr.com/news/local/kfsm-mysterious-death-of-birds-fish-01032011,0,41484.story

Also the fish, they are about 100 miles apart from what I can tell.

Thousands of dead fish washed up last week on a 20 mile stretch along the Arkansas River between Ozark and Clarksville. On New Year's Eve thousands of red-winged blackbirds tumbled from the sky in Beebe, Arkansas.

According to the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, a tug boat operator noticed thousands of dead drum fish. Experts estimate somewhere between 80,000 and 100,000 fish died.

"This is really getting kind of crazy with the fish and the birds and these tornadoes hitting during the winter," said Denise Dickerson, of Ozark.

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Scientists still cannot explain either incident for sure, but the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission believes the fish may have had a disease. Some experts think the birds may have been hit by lightning or hail, or may have been stressed out because of fireworks. "I just think it might be the way the weather's changing so much. One day it might be hot and one day it might be really cold," said Jon Rose Brammer.

Some believe it is not a coincidence all the dead animals started showing up at once. "I'm just wondering, what's next really? What's next?" said Dickerson.

The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission does not believe these incidents are connected.

Game and Fish spokesman Keith Stephens says the aquaculture school at the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff will conduct tests to determine the cause of the fish die-off. The results will take about a month to come back. Stephens says only one species was affected, which indicates the fish were sick.

Dozens 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, Wisconsin.

[DaShi]

Yay! Jesus is coming!

[SlowwHand]

What chapter and verse did you read that from?

Do you think elephants are a possibility after all?

[Docfeelgood]

Yay! Jesus is coming!

He served me my refried beans and chips at the "Gringo House" last week.

[Provost Harrison]

It's not strange. Thousands of birds fall for me all the time

[N35t0r]

Gravity

I was going to say that

[Cort Haus]

Fireworks may have caused Arkansas bird deaths

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jan/04/fireworks-arkansas-blackbird-deaths

New year fireworks appear to be behind thousands of blackbirds mysteriously falling from the sky onto a small Arkansas town, scientists said yesterday.

Revellers in Beebe were enjoying midnight fireworks on New Year's Eve when they noticed dead birds raining down on them.

The red-winged blackbirds fell on rooftops, pavements and fields. One struck a woman walking her dog, while another hit a police car.

Birds were "littering the streets, the yards, the driveways, everywhere", Robby King, a county wildlife officer in Beebe, a community of 5,000 people north-east of Little Rock, said. "It was hard to drive down the street in some places without running over them."

More than 3,000 birds fell to the ground. Scientists said fireworks appeared to have frightened the birds to such a degree that they crashed into homes, cars and each other. Some may have flown straight into the ground.

"The blackbirds were flying at rooftop level instead of treetop level" to avoid explosions above, Karen Rowe, an ornithologist with the Arkansas Game and Fish commission, said. "Blackbirds have poor eyesight, and they started colliding with things."

Rowe stopped short of declaring the mystery solved, however, saying labs planned to test bird carcasses for toxins or disease.

Other theories were that violent thunderstorms might have disoriented the flock, or that one bird could have led them all into a fatal plunge to the ground.

A few stunned birds survived the fall, and stumbled around like drunken revellers. There was little light at the time, except for the fireworks and some lightning on the horizon. In the tumult, many birds probably lost their bearings.

"I turn and look across my yard, and there's all these lumps," resident Shane Roberts said. Roberts thought hail was falling until he saw a dazed blackbird under his truck.

His 16-year-old daughter, Alex, spent Saturday morning picking the blackbirds up. "Their legs are really squishy," she said.

[Cort Haus]

Although I suspect a bug in their iPhones may have been responsible.

[Lorizael]

I dunno. A shock jock on the radio this morning said it was probably the military testing top secret "electronic warfare" measures in a remote area. He says he has sources so I believe him.