Dead Birds Falling From the Sky
I have been looking for more info on the birds that seem to be falling from the sky. If you have not heard about it yet . . . New Year’s Eve a few thousand birds were found dead in central Arkansas. It has been believed that around 4-5 thousand Red-winged Blackbirds had fallen from the sky and died from some kind of trauma. First reports seemed to state it was caused by hail or fireworks. Now another 500 birds have also been found dead along roads in the state of Louisiana only 300 miles south of the Arkansas area. Scientists are now stumped as to what the cause of these birds’ deaths and not even sure if these two instances are related or not. (more…)
People Trying to Help The Birds
Bonaparte’s Gull along Lake Erie
This weekend Young Naturalist J and I heard about some dead Common Loons that were found along Lake Erie (and had to check it out). We made a little detour from some roadside birding to check a public beach to see if the rumors were true. We found 4 dead loons in just one small area of the beach and it was soo sad seeing these guys. I found a press release that was released today discussing the die off of these Common Loons in this area and as we expected, they died due to Type E Botulism!
Mon@rch's Nature Blog 