'Aflockalypse' now? Theory's for the birds, scientists say

[Still a Democrat]

It's death on a big scale, seemingly biblical-type stuff: Millions of spot fish died last week in the Chesapeake Bay, and red-winged blackbirds tumbled from the skies by the thousands in Arkansas and Louisiana over the holidays.

For an explanation of these mysterious events, some have turned to Scripture, others to the Mayan calendar, saying it suggests the world will end in 2012. Others joke about the "aflockalypse." But wildlife experts say these die-offs aren't the result of a human-made disaster or a sign of the apocalypse.

They happen in nature all the time. Records show that mass die-offs occur, on average, every other day somewhere in North America.

The 3,000 red-winged blackbirds in Arkansas were probably asleep when they heard a loud boom from New Year's Eve fireworks shrieking through their tree roost. As happens in such cases, the birds went nuts and crashed into homes, cars and each other before plummeting to their deaths.

...

http://www.statesman.com/news/nation/aflockalypse-now-theorys-for-the-birds-scientists-say-1171207.html?cxtype=ynews_rss

[Pathwalker]

1. Yeah, and they're still dying. Ed Lavendera(CNN) was in Arkansas

several days after the event, showing the birds still alive in the woods where the dead birds had lived. One bird let them get just a few feet from it before it tried to fly away. It landed in the street, and Ed picked it up to put it away from the road, and the bird died in his hands. All the birds in the woods where the dead birds lived are sick and dying still.
But, since that doesn't fit the now official story, THAT report has gone down the memory hole.

[RandomThoughts]

2. Bird song.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=83bmsluWHZc

[Odin2005]

3. This is a media-driven hysteria, like the "Summer of The Sharks" in 2001.