Thousands of birds fall from sky in Italy. WTF IS GOING ON?

[xiamiam]

On Wednesday, GeaPress reported hundreds -- possibly thousands -- of dead and dying birds in Italy. Countless turtle doves were found scattered in the streets, in flower beds and hanging tragically from trees "like Christmas balls" in the town of Faenza. Many of the birds that fell dead from the sky were discovered with a mysterious blue stain in their beaks.

In the past week, similar incidents of mass animal deaths have been reported across the world. Thousands of dead birds fell from the sky in Arkansas on New Year's Eve, and similar incidents were reported on different days in Louisiana, Kentucky and Sweden. Two million fish were discovered dead in Maryland, with other fish kills also reported in Brazil, New Zealand and Arkansas -- approximately 100 miles from the bird incident. 40,000 crabs washed up on England beaches in the past few days, as well.

While the events are likely unrelated, most still remain a mystery. Officials suggest fireworks are likely responsible for many of the bird deaths and that unusually cold weather could be to blame for the strange mass deaths of fish and crabs.

ttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/06/birds-dying-in-italy-thou_n_805541.html

[IronHorse]

1. This is NOT NEW

This happens all the time. The media has just decided to make it the "shark attack" story of the next year or so.

Birds fall out of the sky constantly, all over the globe. Why it happens is slightly mysterious, but it's nothing new.

Google it, you'll see.

Edit:
http://content.usatoday.com/communities/sciencefair/post/2011/01/bird-die-offs-not-at-all-uncommon-says-professor/1

[xiamiam]

2. well i dont watch the media in order to avoid their frenzy..im 60 and i dont

ever remember anything like this..in a few day period all over the globe..fish and birds..something is going on

[OneGrassRoot]

3. I think it's a legitimate question, xiamiam.

While we know isolated incidents of mass deaths are common, many of us are trying to determine if global incidents clustered within the same time period are common, at least in recent recorded history.

Especially as it pertains to birds; we realize fish kills are indeed common, as unfortunate as it is.

[The Backlash Cometh]

6. I agree.

We've heard of Red Tide deaths, but that was once in a blue moon. This is bad.

[doc03]

8. It's the Internets, news travels worldwide in seconds today. That's

just like people going nuts and shooting people it has always happened, only today you hear about them immediately. Many times something that happens in one part of the world is picked up by a copycat a thousand miles away, it just feeds on itself.

[ProdigalJunkMail]

16. +1

[niyad]

20. you think the birds and fish are reading the internet?

[doc03]

22. No the MSM picks up on a story so then something happens

a thousand miles away and it's reported. These things have always happened it's just a small world today with instantaneous communications. I can remember hearing of many fish kills or bird kills locally over the years, but a few years ago nobody was aware of things that happened on the other end of the state.

[Raschel]

51. That hasn't always happened either, not as far as schools and workplaces anyway.

[ohheckyeah]

35. My 84 year old parents have never seen

or heard of anything like this either. Both have always been avid newspaper readers for all of their adult lives. I would think that if this is so common that somewhere along the way they would have read about it. What say you?

[xiamiam]

38. i think the people who say move on nothing to see here are getting their sound bite from the media

it has happened before but this is alarming on many levels and the instances which span the last century dont seem to even compare to this week alone

[ohheckyeah]

52. Agree.

I'm not terrified or obsessed with it but it is of concern and the incidents deserve better explanations than we are receiving. I would assume that autopsies have been or will be done and there should be coordinated efforts between countries to share the information and for good science to be employed. I would like something better than 'firecrackers' for heaven's sake.

[doc03]

4. I am inclined to agree. I think it is just another media invention.

Like the Toyota's accelerator sticking, once it broke on the MSM then the next several weeks it seemed like every day a Toyota was running out of control. Haven't seen a story about any Toyota accelerators sticking for months now.

[Name removed]

9. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[niyad]

11. welcome to DU-- so, according to the media, it was fireworks that destroyed the birds in arkansas--

what fireworks were going on in italy?

I have been on this planet for a looooooooong time, and I don't remember hearing of multiple, massive birdkills like this all in such a short period.

and, quite frankly, every single "reason" the media is portraying is so much bull puckey.

[WhaTHellsgoingonhere]

14. Would be more compelling if it read like so...

1896 Arkansas, Sweden, Italy, Spain

1904 Louisiana, Finland, France, Brazil

1968 California, Germany, Russia, Japan

Something like that.

And the fish are dying because the water is abnormally cold. Has this coincided with a huge polar cap melt-off?

[felix_numinous]

17. This article says there were 12 incidents

in the last century. I think we need a better example of why this is not unusual.

[canetoad]

39. All the time?

That article gave twelve examples over the last CENTURY.

[TalkingDog]

40. Pretty consistant over the years. But the story you provide is not a good comparison.

Search terms:
http://www.google.com/trends?q=bird+death

A couple of spikes, but it's too soon to tell how the current incidents stack up to past instances.

Your story cites 10 instances over 100 years. Not too comforting.

Show me the data of mass bird for every year for the past 5 years and I'll take your claims a little more seriously.

[HCE SuiGeneris]

45. As you are so enlightened, and defending this as an everyday occurrence,

please tell me why it is only slightly mysterious. Fill me in on the solved part of the mystery.

[brewens]

5. Bush's Clear Skies Initiative finally paying off? n/t

[bullwinkle428]

37. DAMMIT!!!!!!! I wanted to use that joke! Classic Al Franken...Bush's

"Clear Skies Initiative" is great at clearing the skies of birds!

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[WinkyDink]

7. Messed-up magnetic fields becasue of the imminent polar reversals.

Go ahead; laugh. Everyone knows the Earth abandoned its geological and astronomical natures when Homo sapiens sapiens appeared.

[xiamiam]

10. of course its worth considering..and definitely possible..but what about the fish?

i dont know..magnetic field messed up makes as much sense as anything else

[Hatchling]

26. My first thought

Since birds relay on magnetic fields the possibility that this is a precursor to the reversal of the magnetic poles occurred to me.

[Cleita]

33. Maybe the Rapture is happening, but to the

birds and fish, not humanity.

:evilgrin:

[WinkyDink]

49. Tsunamis. The Iceland volcano. Australian floods.

[Lucian]

56. You're actually right.

Our poles should have been reversed hundreds of years ago, but they haven't. Now I believe they are starting to reverse.

But I don't believe that's what's causing the birds to die.

[xiamiam]

57. have you seen this?

http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2011/01/06/magnetic-north-pole-shifts-forces-closure-florida-airport/?intcmp=prn_baynote-js_Magnetic_North_Pole_Shifts_Forces_Runway_Closures_at_Florida_Airport

[cherokeeprogressive]

12. Show me pictures. So far I've seen a few hundred dead fish on the east coast...

Show me pictures.

[Catherina]

19. Here's another picture for you. Chesapeake Bay is up to MILLIONS of dead fish per the MD DOE

All that money BP paid scientists and politicians with no conscience sure is paying off. Delicate fish who can't handle the cold. Firecrackers. What will they think of next?

Millions of fish wash up dead on Chesapeake Bay
Updated 1/6/2011 1:08:10 PM ET



Millions of dead fish have washed up along the shores of the Chesapeake Bay over the past week, according to the Maryland Department of the Environment.

Officials are investigating the fish kill but say that according to preliminary results the cause was likely stress from unusually cold water temperatures.

"Our theory is that it was a very rapid temperature drop," MDE spokeswoman Dawn Stoltzfus said. "Obviously, these are fish that are susceptible to very cold temperatures."

...

[BrightKnight]

21. Fish can hear fireworks and that water is very cold. - n/t

[Catherina]

25. All I can say to that is "wow". n/t

[cherokeeprogressive]

23. Yeah that doesn't look like millions of fish to me.

I count 146 dead fish in the top picture... and since the bottom pic is the same one, I count 146 dead fish in the top picture.

Okay I didn't really count them, but does that look like millions of fish to you? I'd eat my words if you could just show me one picture taken from the air that shows dead fish spread over a large piece of shoreline.

Got a pic like that?

[Catherina]

24. You may be eating your words soon. Maybe you can count more than 146 in this video

This is going on all over. Here's something from my neck of the woods.

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGVKjvAr0qo

A survey conducted by the Federation of Fishermen's Colony of Paraná, Paranaguá on the coast of the state, indicates that at least 100 tons of fish
(sardine, croaker and catfish) have turned up dead since last Thursday off the coast of Parana.

On Sunday, representatives from the Environmental Institute of Paraná (IAP), the Secretary of State for the Environment and Water Resources (SEMA),
took samples to verify the reason for the deaths. The report will be released today.

The president of the Federation of Fishermen's Colony of Parana, Edmir Manoel Ferreira, reports that between Paranaguá and Guaraqueçaba at least 2,800 fishermen depend on the daily seafood.

"On Thursday we began to realize very dead fish. Only one community came to bury 15 tons. We are experiencing a very sad situation on the coast"

Apart from Paranagua, Ferreira said the dead fish are starting to appear in other coastal towns. "The dead fish are going to Antonina, and Guaraqueçaba Pontal do Paraná. We need an urgent solution to this," he warns.



Captain Edson Oliveira Avila, regional coordinator of Civil Defense in the Paraná region, believes there are three hypotheses for the death of fish. "We will wait to see what happened, but speculations suggest that fish may have died due to an environmental imbalance, dropping a fishing boat or leakage of chemicals," he says.

Through his press office, the city of Paranagua said the sale of seafood is a precaution, temporarily suspended in the region.

...

http://www.sott.net/articles/show/220958-Brazil-100-tons-of-dead-fish-wash-up-on-shore

[xiamiam]

28. thanks for posting this

[Catherina]

29. You're welcome. I'm waiting for the BP apologists who assured us

nothing like this would ever, could ever, evah happen.

[Mimosa]

54. Catherina, we know the oceans are all connected, don't we?

Some of us have even seen the photos from space. All those waters run in currents.

As to the birds, something strange is going on.

I think I read some scary stuff about the seas turning black and the fish dying, and birds dying and all kinds of other plagues in an old book called 'Revelations.'

[Catherina]

13. "hanging tragically from trees "like Christmas balls" "

in Argentina and Brazil, over one million dolphins, alligators, fish & turtles are dying in record numbers http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FWIzUwZ1Spk

My cats used to love canned cat food with fish in it. Shortly after the Gulf catastrophe, they refused to touch it. They still won't touch it. Odd coincidence that.

But move along. Nothing to see here folks. All these worldwide incidents are unrelated. Breaking down the Gulf Stream, Corexit, more methane, nothing to see here folks.

[HCE SuiGeneris]

48. *

I share your views, Catherina. It's a rather desperate time.

[Desertrose]

15. Whatever is going on ...it sure is getting people's attention

and making them question what might 'really" be going on....who knows what the causes may be.

At least one of the messages must be PAY ATTENTION.

[elocs]

18. It's the latest media distraction and how easily are some people distracted.

Animals die all the time, sometimes in great numbers. Now we have the media reporting on each incidence of it across the globe to make it seem like some bizarre happening, like connecting random dots and coming up with a scary picture.

From my local paper: http://lacrossetribune.com/news/local/article_4e86a5fa-1953-11e0-a890-001cc4c03286.html

When thousands of blackbirds in Arkansas and hundreds of songbirds in Louisiana were found dead this weekend, people's imaginations went wild. But as strange as the news might have seemed, mass wildlife deaths aren't unusual. Ask Calvin Gehri.

A biology technician for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in La Crosse, Gehri has collected dead waterfowl on the Mississippi River every spring and fall for the past eight years.

There usually are too many to count. In November, he estimated about 4,000 corpses were floating in the water above Lock and Dam No. 8 at Genoa, and another 400 upstream in pool 7.

"In La Crosse there are thousands of birds dying every year, but because they're not hitting people's roofs and lawns it's not getting as much attention," said Krysten Schuler, a scientist with the U.S. Geological Survey's National Wildlife Health Center in Madison, where scientists were testing birds collected in Arkansas and Louisiana to find out what killed them.

Not quite as interesting as an apocalyptic conspiracy, but reality usually is not.

[RegieRocker]

59. Bull Hockey

I am avid outdoorsmen and these so called occurrences are not every day events. I have never seen this magnitude in all my 58 yrs of being out in the field.

[Catherina]

27. The fish washing up on the shores of New Zealand have many of their eyes missing

...

Fisheries officials are investigating the death of hundreds of snapper washed up on Coromandel Peninsula beaches.

Beachgoers at Little Bay and Waikawau Bay found the fish - many with their eyes missing - dead on the sand yesterday.

Aucklander James Hughes, who was visiting friends, said they were sitting around when children in their group ran towards them holding fish.

"We said, 'Where'd you get them?' and they said they just started floating up to the beach."

Mr Hughes and others on the beach began walking towards the spot where the fish had washed up, and found many dead fish in the water too.

"We spoke to boaties coming in and they said there was a carpet of them floating in the water."

...

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10697906

...

Charlotte Pearsall, whose family have lived at Little Bay for the last 30 years, said she had never seen anything like it.

"It was so surreal," she said. "It's such an incredible waste - it could've fed the whole northern tip of the Coromandel."

People with binoculars said the snapper stretched as far as they could see and boaties reported "a carpet of floating fish further out to sea all along the coast".

"We initially thought 'woohoo a free feed' but they had really cloudy eyes and you could see the birds had been at them. Some of them had no eyes," Pearsall said.

Her parents called the Department of Conservation and were told it was most likely the fish had starved due to weather conditions, but Pearsall did not think that was the case as many of the fish looked big and healthy.

...

http://www.smh.com.au/environment/hundreds-of-dead-snapper-washed-up-on-new-zealand-beach-20110105-19fdr.html

[BrightKnight]

30. In 1944 the Japanese attacked North America with baloon bombs

It was kind of a low tech ICBM. I could see some fundie freaks trying to do something like that on New Years Eve. If they released something like VX in the air something like this might happen. The best official response would be to blame it on cold weather and fireworks.

[sarcasmo]

31. Someone testing a chemical weapon? End timers must be loving this news.

[hexola]

32. Media setting the table for GOP attempts to curb the EPA?

Who needs that darn ol EPA?

...doesnt sound so popular in the face of these incidents (hyped or not)

[Generic Brad]

34. I'll become truly alarmed if it starts raining men

Hallelujah!

[WestSeattle2]

41. Humidity is rising - barometer's getting low. According to all

sources, the street's the place to go. Cause tonight for the first time, just about half-past ten, for the first time in history, it's gonna start......


:headbang:

[uppityperson]

36. The internet and near instantaneous sharing of information around the world.

This isn't new, but knowing about it so quickly is.

[lynne]

42. Discovery News had article today - says this isn't new or unusual -

Link > http://news.discovery.com/animals/bird-animal-die-offs-110106.html

Or maybe its the beginning of the zombocalypse? :shrug:

[SidDithers]

53. +1...

this should almost be it's own OP, to counteract some of teh crazy being posted.

Sid

[nadinbrzezinski]

43. When the cluster was limited to the US

I was willing to say, an ilegal release.

Right now... we might have to say that global weather change might be at play here. Animals have increasingly moving northwards in their ranges.

Now if you want me to get silly... of course it is the end of the world you silly...

From Rapture Ready...


Rapture Index 173
Net Change +1

Updated Jan 3, 2011

For the record I am surprised they have not raised it... birds falling from the sky are mentioned in the holy books they use for this.

[xiamiam]

44. that certain species die off intimates similar wave frequency to me

turtle doves in italy..sardines in brazil..snapper ...red wing blackbirds....why a certain species at a time?

[nadinbrzezinski]

46. A single species could be a specific virus

and I am sure there will be a rational explanation... but the aha moment was... fireworks my ass, if it was fireworks why are you guys using level II Hazmat suits?

[Capt_John]

47. new death ray weapon

nt

[thelordofhell]

50. Gozer The Traveler

He will come in one of the pre-chosen forms. During the rectification of the Vuldrini, the traveler came as a large and moving Torg! Then, during the third reconciliation of the last of the McKetrick supplicants, they chose a new form for him, that of a giant Slor! Many Sluvs and Zuuls knew what it was to be roasted in the depths of the Slor that day, I can tell you!

[hvn_nbr_2]

55. Fireworks are responsible? Shot from a weather balloon, no doubt. nt

[Mudoria]

58. And next we'll hear of....

the dead are starting to rise from their graves and walk the earth again. I'm telling you, the Zombie Apocalypse is upon us!!



:evilgrin:

[Rabrrrrrr]

60. It's like when you buy a new car, and then you see that model all over the place.

We got one report of it happening, and then the media think "Hey - we should report on all of them to drive up fear and irrationality and make our endtime rightwing owners have orgasms!"