Posted on 01/08/2007 4:39:56 AM PST by Arrowhead1952
Several blocks of Congress Ave are closed as police investigate the death of dozens and dozens of birds lying in the street.
KLBJ spoke to the APD's Toni Shovenitz, She says they are speculating it is some type of posioning.
Right now police are using leaf-blowers to clean the road. They hope re-open this area before rush hour traffic.
What's their cure for hangovers?
Sorry, after I posted, I realized that I have confused my historical figures. Not Guy Fawkes, but Charles Whitman has to be responsible.
We've got starlings here in Michigan and at times they flock by the thousands.......
Radio reports says this is a mess with people trying to get into their offices.
Well, if it was grackles, a dozen wouldn't even make a small dent in them..I hate grackles. They have been decimating my pecan crops the last several years, despite my waging a firecracker war upon them.
I thought the same thing.
W. Page Keeton was dean of the UT Law School for 25 years. He was Carole Keeton Strayhorn's father.
The Avian Flu talk forum usually track these things. Bad time for them to be down..
sw
At least grackles will live in the country part of the time. Pigeons are city birds and they are nasty! I would love to see some city pigeons get poisoned.
Fox just mentioned it.
Oh, but it's such a wonderful & catchy tune!
As are the rest of his songs, like The Massochism Tango, Pollution, The Old Dope Peddler, ...
(FYI: Tom Lehrer was a math professor at Harvard.)
How to Recognise Avian Influenza
What to look for
Ruffled feathers
Soft-shelled eggs
Depression and droopiness
Sudden drop in egg production
Loss of appetite
Cyanosis (purplish-blue coloring) of wattles and comb
Edema and swelling of head, eyelids, comb, wattles, and hocks
Green diarrhoea
Blood-tinged discharge from nostrils
Incoordination, including loss of ability to walk and stand
Pin-point hemorrhages (most easily seen on the feet and shanks)
Respiratory distress
Increased death losses in a flock
Sudden death
Nasal discharges
http://www.thepoultrysite.com/diseaseinfo/62/avian-influenzahighly-pathogenic-hpai-fowl-plague
I would be surprised this is avian flu...
What a strange story...
I suppose if it really were some kind of poison gas or whatnot there'd be some human casualties as well. But it's good that such a thing raises an alert to check things out.
Birds will sometimes fly right into mirrored windows of buildings. I've never seen it, but I wonder if it is possible for a whole group of them flying together to just up and smack into a building. Flying in formation has its risks...
Curious, though.
Willie and his boys havin' a hookah party in the park.
Seems to me that a flu or some other disorder isn't likely to strike a huge number of birds all at the same instant. Disease would tend to move through a population over some period of days or weeks.
Same for crows and pigeons.
Auburn, NY has a huge crow problem to the magnitude ot tens of thousands and Auburn is not big. It's just like living the movie *The Birds* when you're there. Every year they try to deal with it with a crow shoot but all the bleeding heart animal rights activists protest and short circuit it.
Too bad because the farmers in the area are fed up with it.
If someone killed nuisance birds in Austin, oh well...
I went looking, too......I found this article was reprinted in the Dallas Biz Journal only 10 days ago on Dec 29, which allows me to wonder if todays incident was contrived by some treehugger types.....
Making windmills friendly to birds
Puget Sound Business Journal (Seattle) - December 29, 2006
by Deirdre Gregg
Staff Writer
Almost a decade ago, Mike Denny and other members of the Blue Mountain Audubon Society in Walla Walla started hearing about proposed wind projects in their area.
Like many Audubon members, Denny had concerns about how wind farms would affect birds and bats. But he also knew that wind energy was a cleaner source of power than sources such as coal-fired power plants, which generate tons of particulate matter and contribute to global warming.
"We decided it was put up or shut up time," he said. "We had been vociferous about support of clean renewable energy."
Denny decided the best way to get his concerns addressed was to work with wind power developers. Since the construction of the Stateline wind project near Walla Walla, the first wind farm in Washington, Denny has served as a volunteer on advisory committees for wind energy projects.
His position is in line with that of the Washington state and national Audubon societies. Nina Carter, executive director for Audubon Washington, noted that the group supports wind power as long as turbines are sited properly.
"Just like putting up dams for hydropower affects salmon, depending on where you put them and how you build them and operate them, we have to ask the same questions about wind power and birds and bats," she said.
Although wind turbines are massive structures, hundreds of feet high with blades longer than two Metro buses, certain raptors and birds that migrate at night tend to strike the towers and blades, Denny said.
Volunteers like Denny, who is also a field biologist for the U.S. Forest Service, can advise wind developers on where to put turbines to reduce collisions. Many companies are taking steps to gather information about key factors in collisions, such as using radar scans to study nocturnal migration.
"What we've found is we have great companies to work with and other companies that really don't get it," Denny said.
In the upcoming legislative session, Audubon Washington will ask lawmakers to create a new staff position in the Department of Fish and Wildlife to work on wind power issues. That person could help map out where wind turbines are suitable and where developers should be cautious because of the risks to birds and bats.
"Our primary goal has been to support clean renewable energy but not at all costs," Denny said. "With wind, placement is everything, and when the operator and the owner understand that, they will have our complete support."
Contact: dgregg@bizjournals.com • 206-447-8505x114
http://dallas.bizjournals.com/dallas/othercities/seattle/stories/2007/01/01/focus8.html?b=1167627600%5E1396009
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