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From the Associated Press:

Heart of downtown Austin closed in wake of mysterious bird kill
AUSTIN, Texas Austin police have a troubling mystery on their hands.They've closed off most of Congress Avenue for the morning downtown -- along with all side streets between Colorado and Brazos streets. That's after dozens of birds were found dead in the area.
The several dozen dead birds were found along Congress between Sixth and Eighth streets overnight. Congress Avenue is closed from Cesar Chavez on the south to Eleventh Street on the north in front of the Capitol. A police spokeswoman says the area is expected to remain closed until about noon.
People who work in the closed-off area have been advised to delay coming to work until after fire crews conduct precautionary testing of the area and declare an all-clear.

Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

From www.kxan.com

Large Number Of Dead Birds Close Congress Avenue Near Capitol

Jan 8, 2007 06:17 AM PST

Several blocks of Congress Avenue have been closed off to traffic because a large number of dead birds -- reportedly as many as several dozen -- have been found in the area. And if you work in the area, you're being asked to stay home from work until at least noon.
Congress Avenue and one block on either side of the street is shut down from Cesar Chavez to 11th Street until approximately noon. That's because an unusually large number of dead birds were found Monday morning, with most of them concentrated on 9th Street.
The fire department was called out to the area around 3 a.m. on Monday to test if there had been a gas or chlorine leak, but nothing of that nature was found. However, further precautionary testing is ongoing, and fire officials are requesting that individuals that work in this area not to come in until further notice.
The birds are now being collected by workers in hazardous-materials suits and will be sent to another agency for further testing to try to find out why they died.
Also, the 6th Civil Support Team is on the scene. The team supports local first-responders and helps determine the nature of an emergency situation.

All content © Copyright 2000 - 2007 WorldNow and KXAN. All Rights Reserved.

They also have VIDEO at that link.

fyi

I miss everything.

I see some pigeons on occasion downtown, but what is really freaky are these other black birds of some type. As dusk settles they come swooping by the thousands to roost in the trees. Low-fliers, loud, and kamikaze.

(Very cool is watching the herons and egrets come to roost for the night by the "lake". They're incredibly large, and beautiful when they fly, but hilariously ungainly when trying to find branches sturdy enough to hold them for the night. Beats watching the [creepy] bats.)