Massive bird deaths likely caused by loud noises

[Mark Maker]

Source: USA Today

By Elizabeth Weise, USA TODAY
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 most likely occurred when loud noises and fireworks frightened a flock that roosts in a neighborhood, causing them to die when they flew into buildings and other obstacles, a state ornithologist said.
Preliminary necropsies on the dead birds by the state Livestock and Poultry Commission "showed trauma. The birds obviously hit something very hard and had hemorrhages," said Karen Rowe, Arkansas Game and Fish Commission ornithologist. 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 town. They reported it sounding like a cannon or transformer exploding," but officials are still investigating to find out what the noises were, Rowe said.

Read more: http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2011-01-03-dead-birds_N.htm

---

Like they're going to tell us the truth. And what about the fish? Loud noises again?

[Duer 157099]

1. HAARP. n/t

[skoalyman]

28. those soulless

players:P

[arcane1]

2. That's rather confusing...

if they all hit something very hard, would they not drop right next to what they hit?

[aquart]

11. Yes. Now they'll tell us about wind shear.

[PacerLJ35]

29. Not necessarily...

I fly low-levels in C-130s and we occasionally hit birds. They don't just drop dead on the ground...

[niyad]

3. welcome to DU

riggggghhht--because the ONLY place in the country that had fireworks and loud noises was this arkansas town.

[DJ13]

4. HAARP

[Ter]

41. I say chemtrails

Weather manipulation would show its effects to us besides the birds.

[PacerLJ35]

71. There's a problem with that...chemtrails aren't real

[snooper2]

45. oxygen and acetylene bombs

we used to make them around the 4th in Missery

you can feel the earth rumble from 300 yards away :)

Sometimes the truth is easier than it seems...

[peacebird]

5. What about the massive fishkill the same day?

[DeSwiss]

18. And only one species of fish: Drums. n/t

[eppur_se_muova]

44. Selective death of a single species supposedly implies disease ...

no other fish species in that river have been reported to have suffered a massive kill.

[intheflow]

37. Not to mention the dead birds in Louisiana today,

just 2 days later due south as the bird flies (so to speak):

http://www.wbrz.com/news/hundreds-of-dead-blackbirds-found-near-new-roads

[peacebird]

42. how bizarre... ?!?

What is going on?

[ret5hd]

6. So why doesn't my town have massive bird kills when they...

scare the roosting grackles from downtown trees?

[BlueJazz]

7. There were a lot of birds on the highway. Did they hit the stop signs??

[Tx4obama]

8. I think it has something to do with the chemicals at nearyby Fort Chaffee. n/t

[PacerLJ35]

27. There are no chemicals at Ft Chaffee

Chaffee is mostly closed with the exception of some maneuver areas. You're thinking of Pine Bluff Arsenal, which used to make chemical weapons until about 20-30 years ago. Those weapons are either destroyed or nearly destroyed and disposed of. In any case, it would affect a larger area than one particular spot in an area 70 miles north of it.

[elleng]

9. B.S.

I watch DC July 4th Fireworks often, and as soon as they begin, birds TAKE FLIGHT, they don't drop dead!

(Its kind of neat to watch them, fleeing/flying all of a sudden!)

[Javaman]

73. I will start selling umbrella's on the capital's mall this coming 4th.

LOL

:rofl:

[Devil_Fish]

10. more then usual dead seagals on the west coast of San Francisco too. NT

[Ruby the Liberal]

12. Not just Arkansas.

Louisiana: http://www.wbrz.com/news/hundreds-of-dead-blackbirds-found-near-new-roads/


Kentucky: http://www.wpsdlocal6.com/news/local/Woman-reports-dozens-of-dead-birds-in-her-yard-112830524.html

[immoderate]

13. Electro-magnetic vortex. Fabric of space. Quantum.

--imm

[DBoon]

19. must be a TIME LORD!!!

[Codeine]

14. More trends.

The Guns of August. I know history.

[jerseyjack]

15. Similar to episode about a year ago in N.J.

Franklin Twp. N.J., hundred of birds dropped dead out of the sky. It resulted from an agricultural poisoning.

[lonestarnot]

30. Poison water.

[mrdmk]

16. Yeah is that a fact, do I have stupid written across my forehead? n/t

:headbang:

[DeSwiss]

17. They ruled out pollutants pretty quickly.....

...because when you're Arkansas you don't want to piss-off Monsanto. So they said it might be something "natural" like lightning or maybe hail. Now they're saying it's firecrackers???

- Next they'll be blaming Julian Assange.....

K&R

[christx30]

34. I'm still going to blame Julian Assange...

you know... just because. Maybe he published secret list of "bombsites" like picnics and car washes that the birds wanted to keep secret.

[bulloney]

20. Loud noises? Maybe Huckabee farted.

[OhioChick]

21. Loud noise? Yeah, right. n/t

[valerief]

22. Yes, they've never had loud noises on previous New Year's Eves. nt

[dflprincess]

68. Or the 4th of July

you'd think there would be reports of this happening all over the country every Independence Day.

Must be some incredible fireworks in Arkansas!

[Poll_Blind]

23. Well, the picture of the bird they show appears to have a compound fracture. The point, I....

...guess, is whatever injury happened to them was very severe. Enough to break the skin. The bird in question's beak appears to be fine but I'd imagine much more damage to the head if it literally slammed into something hard enough to break other bones, split the skin.

Is it out of the question that something hit the birds?

Those birds would have to have been going pretty fast to kill themselves. I looked up the speed on red-winged blackbirds and they top out somewhere around 30 mph. I guess that could have done that kind of damage but 4,000 of them flying at the absolute fastest they can possibly fly, or faster, into buildings killing themselves?

Just weird.

Also, over the next couple of days there should be an equal number of birds discovered, at least, who were critically injured but did not die outright. There's a whole distribution curve in regards to mass casualties like this and so far we've only seen one part of it.

PB

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

43. Maybe the hard thing they hit was...the ground.

:think:

[Poll_Blind]

48. Well yeah, but maybe I'm missing something? It was said they'd flown into horizontal...

...structures hard enough to kill themselves. I doubt the terminal velocity for a little bird (falling directly down afterward) like that is going to be enough to splat it open. It reminds me of the following quote from J. B. S. Haldane's On Being the Right Size:

“You can drop a mouse down a thousand-yard mine shaft; and, on arriving at the bottom, it gets a slight shock and walks away, provided that the ground is fairly soft. A rat is killed, a man is broken, a horse splashes.”

PB

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

58. Horizontal is just a frame of reference.

:shrug:

[pitohui]

62. they died THEN hit the ground (blunt force trauma injuries but occurred at altitude)

what is not being said is that there were a lot of tornadoes and hail at that time

i believe the birds were caught up in a tornado and spun so violently that this why they're showing the internal trauma that we see

one wildlife official said it was probably a hailstorm that hit the birds but close enough to the same idea

there are loud noises and fireworks every year, this year there were actually FEWER fireworks because of the shitty weather, so the loud noise theory is just stupid ass

not qualified to comment on fish kills but they're v. common and i doubt they're related

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

78. go ahead and believe that

I don't.

[dixiegrrrrl]

24. Reports from all over the country:

Louisiana:
Updated: January 3, 2011 4:39 PM
LABARRE, La. - Around 500 dead blackbirds and starlings have been found in Pointe Coupee Parish, according to state wildlife officials.

The birds were spotted lying in roads and ditches near Labarre Elementary School. The community is between Morganza and New Roads on Highway 10.
http://www.wbrz.com/news/hundreds-of-dead-blackbirds-found-near-new-roads

Little Rock, Ark:
Updated: January 3, 2011 3:23 PM

Experts are investigating the deaths of more than 3,000 blackbirds that fell to the ground over a 1.5 square-mile area near Little Rock, just before midnight on New Year's Eve.
The director of Cornell University's ornithology lab says the most likely suspect is violent weather. He says thousands of birds were probably asleep in a single tree when a "washing machine-type thunderstorm" sucked them up into the air, disoriented them, and even fatally soaked and chilled them.
http://www.wbrz.com/news/expert-says-storm-likely-killed-thousands-of-birds/

GILBERTSVILLE, Ky.
Story Updated: Jan 3, 2011 at 5:59 PM CST
Woman reports dozens of dead birds in her yard.

Sandy, who asked we not share her last name, first noticed the birds several days ago but cleaned them up, not thinking twice.
But when she noticed more birds Monday morning, she panicked, "I had just seen the story on the news about the birds in Arkansas and I was scared."

In fact, 3,000 blackbirds seemed to fall from the sky there- starting last Friday. Autopsies have since ruled out poisoning. One top biologist from Cornell University said the birds were "....probably asleep in a single tree when a washing machine-type thunderstorm sucked them up into the air, disoriented them, and even fatally soaked and chilled them."
http://www.wpsdlocal6.com/news/local/Woman-reports-dozens-of-dead-birds-in-her-yard-112830524.html

San Francisco
10/11/10 11:00 PM

Ongoing seagull deaths near Pier 94 perplexing.

A sharp increase in dead seagulls found on three acres of Port of San Francisco land has city and state officials launching an investigation into why the birds are dying.

Occasional dead birds have shown up in years past at the land near Pier 94 just south of Cesar Chavez Street. In the past year, however, the number has taken an abrupt and mysterious flight upward.

http://www.sfexaminer.com/local/ongoing-seagull-deaths-near-pier-94-perplexing#ixzz1A1nkm73e


What is interesting is that the papers report the SAME comment by a Cornell guy in both the Ark and the Kentucky cases.
AND
the bird deaths in Ark, Ken. and La. were reported the same day.

[DeSwiss]

36. Okay I'll say it:

- Makes as much sense as their bullshit firecracker theory......

[Desertrose]

39. Makes as much or more sense than the "loud noise" BS.

Maybe HAARP or....??

[DeSwiss]

60. Or...... some goodies from Pine Bluff Arsenal located less than 100 miles away?

The http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pine_Bluff_Arsenal">Pine Bluff Arsenal Pine Bluff Arsenal (PBA) is a US Army installation located in Jefferson County, Arkansas, just northwest of the city of Pine Bluff. PBA is one of the six Army installations in the United States that store chemical weapons.<1> PBA supplies specialized production, storage, maintenance and distribution of readiness products, and delivers technical services to the Armed Forces and Homeland Security. PBA also designs, manufactures and refurbishes smoke, riot control, and incendiary munitions, as well as chemical/biological defense operations items. It serves as a technology center for illuminating and infrared munitions and is also the only place in the Northern Hemisphere where white phosphorus munitions are filled. Its Homeland Security mission includes first-responder equipment training and surveillance of prepositioned equipment.

There are those who http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k679FjX8-PI&feature=player_embedded">say that Pine Bluff is the location where phosgene gas from Iraq was supposed to have been destroyed via ground injection. If true, it would explain a lot.

[Javaman]

74. Project Arrowhead...

Steven King's, "The Mist".

I rule out nothing.

How about a high altitude sonic weapon?

Creates a wall of sound that the birds got smacked with? Rupturing internal organs and causing broken bones?

In this day in age where we have microwave heat rays to cook Iraqi's with, what's to say this doesn't exist as well?

We live in a sad world.

[dixiegrrrrl]

47. That was my FIRST thought.

You are not alone.

[wovenpaint]

49. me, too

Official website
http://www.haarp.alaska.edu/

The weird weather/snow started me thinking-and now the animals...:cry:

[bobburgster]

52. So much for the fireworks theory!

I thought that was a bunch of crap when I first heard about the Ark. fiasco. Now they're dropping in La. & Ark. too! They must put on one hell of a fireworks display down there.

[Duer 157099]

25. Maybe the hard surface they hit was THE GROUND n/t

[iamtechus]

31. Quite possible

If they flew into a cloud of VX nerve gas their nervous systems would lock up and they wouldn't be able to fly. Then they would fall helplessly to the ground which would cause the symptoms of trauma.

There is a US Army chemical weapons storage and disposable site at Pin Bluff Arkansas. I know that isn't close but nerve gas can travel quite a ways on air currents. I know of this happening in the 1960s when clouds of this gas were escaping from the army's Dugway Proving Grounds in Utah. In that case livestock were killed clear over in Colorado. It was difficult to figure out what was causing it because the gas wasn't showing up in blood tests.

[Statistical]

35. If they were killed by VX they would be dead before they hit the ground.

Should also show telltale signs of nerve agent damage (suffocation for example).

[mainer]

54. VX gas would take a minute or two to kill

in that time, they'd hit the ground and hemorrhage.

[pitohui]

63. again it's already known they were dead BEFORE hitting the ground

i have a theory people should be required to read before they comment but heck that's just me

[Duer 157099]

70. I read the article at the link. Twice. Please provide the quote

Since you are suggesting that I cannot read, please provide the exact quote from the article that says they were dead before they hit the ground?

Also, even if they died while in the air, hitting the groud could certainly cause the physical damage they are describing, and THAT was my point.

[defendandprotect]

26. Coincidental to the dead fish????

[No Elephants]

32. Loud noises? So, airports where jets take off are littered with wee dead budgies?

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

33. same thing in Louisiana too? link

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x4682158

[JimGinPA]

38. Dead Birds Found In Japan Too

http://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2011/01/03/Japan-on-alert-after-finding-dead-birds/UPI-41861294114121/

[lonestarnot]

67. Interesting.

[Skittles]

40. riiiiiiiiiight

[riverwalker]

46. Tinfoil hat time: death of Wheeler and dead birds?

Just because there is no trace of a chemical does mean the bird deaths couldn't have a biological weapons test of some sort. The weird death of Wheeler is just.... too weird. :tinfoilhat: :tinfoilhat: :tinfoilhat: I can't believe the simultaneous deaths of 100,000 drum fish (bottom feeders) and 5000 birds in the same area is not a bigger story. :tinfoilhat: :tinfoilhat: :tinfoilhat:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40904330/ns/us_news-crime_and_courts/

"Wheeler also spent some time self-employed and recently was a consultant for The Mitre Corporation, a nonprofit based in Bedford, Mass., and McLean, Va., that operates federally funded research and development centers.

Wheeler's military career included serving in the office of the Secretary of Defense and writing a manual on the effectiveness of biological and chemical weapons. He recommended that the U.S. not use biological weapons."

[mirrera]

50. It looks like they are wearing has mat suits like with the birds...

Interesting.

[pinboy3niner]

66. You're gonna need a lot more tin foil...

The web is abuzz with lots of conspiracy theories about this, including this one:

Top US Official Murdered After Arkansas Weapons Test Causes Mass Death
Posted by EU Times on Jan 4th, 2011

A shocking report prepared for Prime Minister Putin by the Foreign Military Intelligence Directorate (GRU) states that one of the United States top experts in biological and chemical weapons was brutally murdered after he threatened to expose a US Military test of poison gas that killed hundreds of thousands of animals in Arkansas this past week.

More:
http://www.eutimes.net/2011/01/top-us-official-murdered-after-arkansas-weapons-test-causes-mass-death/

[hugo_from_TN]

51. Nerve gas used to scare away the curious

Just like in Close Encounters of the Third Kind. It has to be that - no question.

[emilyg]

53. Pure BS

[mimitabby]

55. how come the loud noises didn't kill them on the 4th of July?

[snagglepuss]

56. Or in cities that had massive fireworks like Sydney, London, etc?

Why hasn't in happened in other years? Why not in places where buildings have been demolished by expolsives?

[truebrit71]

57. Yeah, bollocks. Sorry, not buying that...

..

[sofa king]

59. And somewhere, David Brin is hoping he's wrong.

http://earthbydavidbrin.pbworks.com/w/page/15607653/OzoneHole

On the downside, Teresa remembered one awful autumn where she and Jason came home almost daily to find pathetic creatures dying on the lawn. Or worse, hopping about in panic because they could no longer see.

Blind robins. Some threshold had been reached and within weeks they were all dead.


Okay, so he's probably off on the ozone/blindness thing. But David Brin's Earth is proving to be uncannily correct in a number other of depressing ways.

http://earthbydavidbrin.pbworks.com/w/page/15607657/Predictions

[SOS]

61. Loud noises?

Sounds like the lawyers at some chemical company are putting out an alternative theory in advance.

[Kievan Rus]

64. I wonder if this has something to do with the oil spill

[Crowman1979]

65. [phone]

[StarryNite]

69. Noises?

I'm hearing noises and what I'm hearing sounds like bullshit! :mad:

[Javaman]

72. LOL

:rofl:

Loud noises!!! LOL

Bang!! Gotcha!!!

Look at the birds drop!!!

LOL! Loud Noises! That is rich!

What were the noises? Fireworks?

Well then, we can look forward to the annual bird die off then, right?

I don't recall this happening last year or the year before, etc.

Must be the new fireworks being smuggled into the country!

Look out, here comes the Dyno-nuke firework!

Good god, this is worse than swamp gas explaining UFO's.

LOL we are pathetic.

I'll just wait for the next big wikileak for the truth.

[kryckis]

75. Dead birds in Sweden...

http://www.thelocal.se/31262/20110105/

[TatonkaJames]

76. Coincidence ? Swiss-backed project

STOCKHOLM — Officials say about 50 birds have been found dead on a street in Sweden.

Veterinarian Robert ter Horst says the cause of jackdaws' deaths was unclear but that fireworks were set off near the scene Tuesday night.

The birds were found dead on Wednesday.

Ter Horst says cold weather, difficulties finding food and possible shock from the fireworks could be responsible, leading to the stressed birds either dying from the stress or being run over by vehicles.

Five of the dead jackdaws found in the city of Falkoping were being tested.

Mass bird deaths aren't uncommon.

In the U.S., New Year's Eve fireworks were blamed in Arkansas for killing thousands of blackbirds, and a few days later power lines likely killed about 450 birds in Louisiana.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/05/dead-birds-sweden_n_804600.html


Desert dwellers wishing to transform their arid surroundings into a profitable, crop-sustaining oasis have reportedly gotten one step closer to making that dream a reality, as Abu Dhabi scientists now claim to have created more than 50 artificial rainstorms from clear skies during peak summer months in 2010.

According to Arabian Business, the storms were part of a top secret, Swiss-backed project, commissioned by Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, president of the UAE and leader of Abu Dhabi. Called "Weathertec," the climate project -- said to be worth a staggering $11 million -- utilized ionizers resembling giant lampshades to generate fields of negatively charged particles, which create cloud formation, throughout the country's Al Ain region, the Telegraph is reporting.

"We are currently operating our innovative rainfall enhancement technology, Weathertec, in the region of Al Ain in Abu Dhabid," Helmut Fluhrer, the founder of Metro Systems International, the Swiss company in charge of the project, is quoted as saying. "We started in June 2010 and have achieved a number of rainfalls."

Monitored by the Max Planck Institute for Technology, a leading tank for the study of atmosphere physics, the fake storms are said to have baffled Abu Dhabi residents by also producing hail, wind gales and even lightning.

"There are many applications," Professor Hartmut Grassl, a former institute director, is quoted by the Daily Mail as saying. "One is getting water into a dry area. Maybe this is a most important point for mankind."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/03/abu-dhabi-rainstorm_n_803554.html

[compaqxp]

77. I don't believe this

I think there is more to this then were being told. If this happens near you I'm buy gloves and a mask at the minimum.