Birds fall from the sky, and the popular imagination takes wing

During my 34 years as nongame wildlife program supervisor in the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources I have fielded thousands of calls from the public, about everything from "migrating peacocks" to a murder case where a friend of the defendant blamed the demise of the victim on a great horned owl. To most of the inquiries there was a perfectly logical answer.

This was the case following the reports on New Year's Day, when approximately 5,000 red-winged blackbirds were reported dead in the community of Beebe, Ark. The birds were found scattered among the yards, streets and driveways of the small Arkansas town. When the birds were examined for the cause of death, it was apparent that they died of blunt force trauma, somehow sustained in the middle of the night.

The media response following the bird kill was amazing. Reporting included a number of theories about why this happened. I heard that it was caused by extraterrestrials, by electromagnetic waves created by too much Twittering, that al-Qaida was claiming credit, and that a conspiracy theory was somehow involved.

Instead of resorting to these examples of voodoo science to explain the phenomenon, I tried a different tack to learn what happened. I contacted my wildlife biologist counterpart in Arkansas, Karen Rowe. Following is her response:

"A series of large professional type fireworks went off in the subdivision around 10 pm ... Apparently, the fireworks flushed the blackbirds from the roost. Observers said they saw flocks of blackbirds flying through the subdivision about 15 minutes later and said the birds were flying in a flock, all going the same direction, but instead of flying above the treetops, the birds were flying at roof top level. Observers said the birds started crashing into houses and other structures as well as cars, mailboxes and shrubbery. Some were stunned and others were dead. Necropsy results showed trauma on the breasts and heads, which is consistent with flying into objects rather than just falling to the ground. Blackbirds are known to have very poor night vision."

This should have put the issue to rest. But then other die-offs of fish and birds were reported from Louisiana, Sweden and other locations, and here came the voodoo conspiracy theories all over again.

I do not have the details explaining these other die-offs, but such unfortunate events happen for a variety of reasons every year -- in Minnesota, throughout the United States and the world. In Minnesota we have occasional die-offs of waterfowl, pelicans, cormorants, gulls and songbirds that are caused by disease problems like Newcastle disease, botulism, aspergillosus and late summer blooms of blue-green algae. Fish kills can be reported in spring after low oxygen levels cause die-offs under lake ice, and of course fish kills can also occur because of the release of toxic chemicals or pollutants in our lakes and streams.

Perhaps the take-home message from all of this interest in our fish and wildlife is that we can each be on the lookout for unusual die-offs of fish or wildlife. People should immediately report such deaths to the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources so that fresh specimens can be retrieved for analysis. Then we can come up with an accurate diagnosis and decide if any subsequent action is necessary in the interest of public health or wildlife protection.

It also helps to have photos or video of such events. Sometimes we get reports of bird die-offs several months after they happened, and there is little we can do to learn from that information.

So go ahead, feel free to keep Twittering, and be reassured that there is no international plot to mess with our red-winged blackbirds. Enjoy our wildlife -- and don't forget that you can help Minnesota's wildlife by donating to the Nongame Wildlife Checkoff on your state tax forms.

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Carrol Henderson is Nongame Wildlife Program supervisor with the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources.

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