Posted on 01/02/2011 8:33:08 AM PST by edpc
BEEBE, Ark. – Wildlife officials are trying to determine what caused more than 1,000 blackbirds to die and fall from the sky over an Arkansas town.
The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission said Saturday that it began receiving reports about the dead birds about 11:30 p.m. the previous night. The birds fell over a 1-mile area of Beebe, and an aerial survey indicated that no other dead birds were found outside of that area.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Mind you I have no way of knowing this for sure because I would never, ever nuke a Federally-protected song bird, but I once heard somewhere that judicious use of pepper spray can work wonders.
Nasty weather there recently. I’ve got a couple of theories: a flock poisoned (either intentionally or not), pulled into a tornado, electrocution, or rapid air pressure change from the shock wave of lightning (ruptures the lungs). Regardless, the state health department will want to figure it out.
Well, there’s a difference between a Starling and a Grackle, they’re not interchangeable, as far as my own observation.
Starlings could be either beautiful or disgusting, depending upon your perspective. Iridescent plumage looks oily when you know their behavior and they’ve roosted in trees near your house. They’re loud and messy, and hard to get rid of once they’ve settled in your trees.
Grackles are somewhat similar in size and behavior, and are actually louder than Starlings. I’ve always thought the name “Grackle” was onomotopoeiac since it sounds like the racket they raise.
But, they’re not iridescent or oily looking, they have small white speckles on their backs and wings.
I’m not exactly a “birder” from way back, so it could be that I’m mistaken, but I learned my birds from my extended family, several of whom were country farmers. They knew their pest birds.
Redwing Blackbirds, on the other hand, were beloved up to a point, so long as their population didn’t get out of hand. My grandfather had one that had learned a couple of sounds, it wasn’t exactly a pet as it was still in the wild, but it was nearly tame, came to “visit” him when he was outside. They can become mimics like a magpie with longterm close association with people.
A Wrist Rocket. One of the best personal weapons a home owner in a residential area can own.
Instantaneous transition from airspeed to warp drive....sorry.....hadda bookit quick....
LOL!
Oh the humanity!
As God is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly!
They should stay away from Tiajunna, is all I’ve got to say, lol.
Jihad.....Muslim Black Birds - authorities are checking to see if they were ‘jail-house conversions’.
Wow, I had never heard of that before so I did look it up on youtube as you suggested. Here's a good one: Starlings On Otmoor. That is absolutely breathtaking.
After watching some of the murmurations on youtube, it’s amazing that more multiple bird deaths aren’t reported.
I'm stuned!
I’m right around your cutoff age but was able to reverse engineer what TS was talking about with a calculator and Google.
The king was in Hawaii
Spending all our money
No Hitchcock reference?
In Europe, they get the name Starling because when in flight, their short wings and short tail make them look something like a 4 pointed star.
In the US, the Starling (also called a Grackle) is a bird with a longer tail and black beak and legs but sports the deep black, iridescent plummage all year long.
But, they are not the same as the Common Blackbird (turdus merula) which has the longer tail, more slender body like the Starling/Grackle but with the orange beak/legs.
Clear as mud, right?
It’s Fox’s fault! They should never have cancelled “FlashForward”.
Albatrosss do
Tee Heee
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