BEEBE, Ark. — Thousands of dead red-winged blackbirds fell from the sky in an Arkansas town on New Year's Eve after massive trauma, tests by veterinary officials concluded on Monday.
As many as 5,000 birds mysteriously rained on Beebe, Ark., after nightfall.
"The birds suffered from acute physical trauma leading to internal hemorrhage and death," the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission said in a statement. "There was no sign of chronic or infectious disease."
The injuries were primarily in the breast tissue, with blood clotting and bleeding in the body cavities.
Dr. George Badley, the state's top veterinarian, told NBC News that the birds died in midair, not on impact with the ground.
That evidence, and the fact that the red-winged blackbirds fly in close flocks, suggests they suffered some massive midair collision, he added. That lends weight to speculation that they were startled by something.
'Loud noises'
Scientists believe that fireworks appeared to have frightened the birds into such a frenzy that they crashed into homes, cars and each other. Some may have flown straight into the ground.
"Loud noises were reported shortly before the birds began to fall from the sky," the commission's statement said, adding that blackbirds seldom fly at night.
"The blackbirds were flying at rooftop level instead of treetop level" to avoid explosions above, according to Karen Rowe, an ornithologist with the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission. "Blackbirds have poor eyesight, and they started colliding with things."
Another theory was that severe weather such as lightning accounted for the load noises but this was discounted because the violent weather had already left the area.
"We're leaning more toward a stress event," Arkansas Game and Fish Commission spokesman Keith Stephens said.
The commission also is trying to determine what caused the deaths of up to 100,000 fish over a 20-mile stretch of the Arkansas River near a dam in Ozark , 125 miles west of Beebe. The fish were discovered on Dec. 30.
Stephens said the commission expects results on the fish tests in probably a month. Disease may be the culprit, since almost all the fish were one species — bottom-feeding drum, Stephens said.
Stephens said the events do not appear to be related. Both that section of the river and the air at the site of the bird deaths were tested for toxins, Stephens said.
Residents of Beebe, a community of 5,000 northeast of Little Rock, told how dead birds ended up"littering the streets, the yards, the driveways, everywhere."
Video: Arkansas resident: 'I saw dead black birds' (on this page)
"It was hard to drive down the street in some places without running over them," said Robby King, a county wildlife officer in Beebe.
With the birds, a few stunned ones survived their fall and stumbled around like drunken revelers. There was little light across the countryside at the time, save for the glimmer of fireworks and some lightning on the horizon. In the tumult, many birds probably lost their bearings.
"I turn and look across my yard, and there's all these lumps," said Shane Roberts, who thought hail was falling until he saw a dazed blackbird beneath his truck. His 16-year-old daughter, Alex, spent Saturday morning picking them up. "Their legs are really squishy," the teen said.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40904491/ns/us_news-environment/
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