Article: Dead Bird Panic - How Media Focus Distorts a Subject

[Mick]

You can view the page at http://metabunk.org/content/137-Dead...orts-a-Subject

[MikeC]

I found this little gem - it's too wierd for me - apparently FEMA is to blame??


http://chemtrailsnorthnz.wordpress.c...ore/#more-5348

[Mick]

An earthquake preparedness plan kills birds?

[Alhazred The Sane]

Sad to say that even the usually sane Guardian in the UK has run with this story with the headline of "Apocalypse now? Mystery bird deaths hit Louisiana", which was disappointing. It was especially disappointing as they included the sane bits of the story:

"Bird experts stressed no one should be worried. "Mass bird die-offs can be caused by starvation, storms, disease, pesticide, collision with man-made structures or human disturbance ... Initial findings indicate that these are isolated incidents that were probably caused by disturbance and disorientation," Greg Butcher, director of bird conservation at the Audubon Society, said."

Reading the comments section beneath the article we find that possible causes include "a test of a death ray weapon", a sign that the world is coming to an end as predicted in the bible, British Petroleum, "a U.S. experiment (military?) gone arwry", and my own favourite - Voldemort. Among many others.

[Mick]

I got the following reference sent to me by Paul Slota, the USGS Spokesman on the issue:

http://ice.itm.ingenta.com/content/b...00003/art00001

Cold weather often kills migrants in their breeding areas, but not the local resident species which can better withstand it at those times. For migrants, cold and snow act to cut off the food supply, and can have a major selective effect on the seasonal timing of migration. Records of in-flight weather-induced mortality, involving up to hundreds or thousands of birds at a time, have affected mainly small passerines, but also larger birds, including eagles and swans. Most occurred in conditions of mist, rain or snow storms, and some involved nocturnal collisions with illuminated masts and other tall structures. Records of post-arrival mortality in breeding areas have involved mainly small insectivores (especially hirundines), but also waders and waterfowl. Such incidents, associated with cold and snow, have reduced local breeding densities from the previous year by 25-90%, depending on species and area, with up to several years required for recovery. Records of pre-departure mortality on breeding areas have mainly affected hirundines. Two major incidents in central Europe in September 1931 and 1974 killed hundreds of thousands, or even millions, of swallows and martins.

And this article was related:

http://elibrary.unm.edu/sora/Wilson/...0409-p0411.pdf

On the night of 13-14 January 1997,
thousands of grebes migrating southward from
Great Salt Lake flew into a snowstorm and
crashed in southern Utah. Near the town of
Delta about 3650 hit the ground after being
attracted to lights of houses; of these 148
(4.1%) were found dead. Concurrently, 8 km
away, 3600 more were downed and 1600
(44.4%) were found dead in a 2-ha pond at
the Intermountain Power Project plant (IPP).
Internal examination of over 1000 carcasses
showed, as in previous downings (Jehl 1993),
that death resulted from severe trauma (e.g.,
massive internal bleeding; broken bill, ster-num,
clavicles, legs; cranial hemorrhage; rup-
tured spleen or liver)

[Mick]

More snippets of sense in otherwise sensational stories:

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/01/m...de-phenomenon/

A local resident reported hearing about 20 loud booms Saturday night -- which could have been fireworks or a cannon to get rid of nuisance birds -- and saw a huge flock of frantic birds when he went outside.

"He could hear the blackbirds fluttering around -- he could hear their wings and he could hear them hitting into things," state veterinarian George Badley told AFP.

Blackbirds have poor night vision and they were likely killed because they banged into houses, trees and each other in their fright.

Blackbirds, one should note, roost around Beebe in huge numbers, flocks of hundreds of thousands. Flocks so big that farmers actually have cannons to try to scare them away.

[Mick]

Bird deaths in perspective. Bird deaths simply from them flying into things are in the hundreds of millions.

http://www.fws.gov/birds/mortality-fact-sheet.pdf

Building window strikes may account for 97 to 976 million bird deaths each year. Communication towers conservatively kill 4 to 5 million birds annually (possibly closer to 40 to 50 million; a nationwide cumulative impacts study should help resolve this question). Strikes at high tension transmission and distribution power lines very conservatively kill tens of thousands of birds annually. Taking into account the millions of miles of bulk transmission and distribution lines in the U.S., and extrapolating from European studies, actual mortality could be as high as 174 million deaths annually. Electrocutions probably kill tens of thousands of birds but the problem is barely monitored. Cars may kill 60 million birds or more each year, private and commercial aircraft far fewer, while wind turbine rotors kill an estimated 33,000 birds annually.

[Mick]

The Radar images of the flock of birds show it covering 30-40 square miles. That's a lot of birds. Probably over a million.



See the Accuweather Story.

[Vierotchka]

Found this interesting and balanced article:

FACT CHECK: Mass bird, fish deaths occur regularly

An excerpt:

First, the blackbirds fell out of the sky on New Year's Eve in Arkansas. In recent days, wildlife have mysteriously died in big numbers: 2 million fish in the Chesapeake Bay, 150 tons of red tilapia in Vietnam, 40,000 crabs in Britain and other places across the world. Blogs connected the deadly dots, joking about the "aflockalypse" while others saw real signs of something sinister, either biblical or environmental.

The reality, say biologists, is that these mass die-offs happen all the time and usually are unrelated.

Federal records show they happen on average every other day somewhere in North America. Usually, we don't notice them and don't try to link them to each other.

"They generally fly under the radar," said ornithologist John Wiens, chief scientist at the California research institution PRBO Conservation Science.

[Unregistered]

An earthquake preparedness plan kills birds?

You complain about others being close minded yet you cannot take the time to realize there is a difference between millions of birds dying 1-20 at a time by windows and this series of deaths

3000 Black birds in Arkansas

8000 turtle doves in Italy

200,000 pounds of sardines

40,000 devil crabs

100,000's of fish along AR. River

AND MORE!! all within seven days.

I am logical and intelligent, and i say Bullshit these mass deaths are unrelated.

[Unregistered]

Same as above I meant to respond to this Micktool



Bird deaths in perspective. Bird deaths simply from them flying into things are in the hundreds of millions.

http://www.fws.gov/birds/mortality-fact-sheet.pdf

Building window strikes may account for 97 to 976 million bird deaths each year. Communication towers conservatively kill 4 to 5 million birds annually (possibly closer to 40 to 50 million; a nationwide cumulative impacts study should help resolve this question). Strikes at high tension transmission and distribution power lines very conservatively kill tens of thousands of birds annually. Taking into account the millions of miles of bulk transmission and distribution lines in the U.S., and extrapolating from European studies, actual mortality could be as high as 174 million deaths annually. Electrocutions probably kill tens of thousands of birds but the problem is barely monitored. Cars may kill 60 million birds or more each year, private and commercial aircraft far fewer, while wind turbine rotors kill an estimated 33,000 birds annually.