Dead bird outbreak worsens across Southeast US

The latest bird deaths in the wildlife mystery appeared on the roadside of Interstate 65, near Huntsville, Alabama on Saturday. The 300 black-colored grackles strewn over a white blanket of white snow was an eerie scene for motorists driving past the carcasses.

Since the beginning of 2011, thousands of dead birds and millions of dead fish have been reported worldwide. In Faenza, Italy, more than 700 doves were found dead with blue stains on their beaks. Authorities say it was a sign of suffocation. Sweden also reported dead birds last week. In the United States, strange bird deaths have been reported in Kentucky, Arkansas, Louisiana, Alabama and California. Dead fish and crabs have been reported by the millions in Maryland, Illinois, Arkansas, New Zealand, Brazil.

A recent report in the Huffington Post claims scientists have discovered the cause of death for the Doves in Italy. "We are fairly confident the birds died as a result of massive indigestion brought on by over-eating," Rodolfo Ridolfi, a director at the regional zoological institute, told The Daily Mail.” Additional data suggest that dead birds across the United States are the cause of blunt trauma and internal bleeding.

What all the reports lack is what prompted the bird deaths. Why did the birds in Italy suddenly eat themselves to death? In the US, the internal bleeding claimed to be the cause of death of the birds in Beebe, Arkansas could have been caused by impact, after falling from the sky. But what cause the birds to fall in the first place?

Birds and fish are at the top of the food chain, so whatever affects them also soon affects humans. There is some speculation that pollution from chemicals and oil from the BP Gulf oil spill has infiltrated the environment on a global scale. NOAA had suggested this possibility last year, during the height of the crisis.

However, much of the Gulf oil spill data has been hidden through contracts between BP and scientists, so the connection may be difficult to document. Concealing oil spill damage data was the purpose of the BP contracts, to reduce the company’s monetary damage penalties.

There are any number of reasons for the sudden death of birds and fish worldwide. Climate change, pollution, and theories of the Apocalypse are among them.

One thing is certain; there is a reason for the sudden death of wildlife across the globe, we just have no solid evidence to support any of them right now. Until we do, the speculation, and perhaps the birds deaths, will go on.

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Hundreds of Blackbirds found dead in Louisiana, more in Kentucky

Some 500 blackbirds have been discovered dead in Louisiana, just days after the discovery of 5,000 similar dead birds in Beebe, Arkansas.

The dead bird events began on New Year’s Eve when authorities claim 5,000 red-wing blackbirds were frightened by fireworks and fell from the sky dead. Necropsies of the birds revealed that the otherwise healthy birds died in midair, and suffered internal bleeding concentrated in the chest area.

On Tuesday, 500 starlings were found dead in Pointe Coupee Parish in Louisiana, in a town called Labarre on Highway 10. 

Dozens of dead blackbirds are also now being reported in Gilbertsville, Kentucky, after being discovered in a woman's backyard.

A number of theories are beginning to emerge as to the cause of the additional bird deaths in Louisiana, including chemical spraying from aircraft. However, no official cause of death has been discovered as of yet.

Authorities are not certain if all the dead bird events are related, or if they are somehow connected to the death of 100,000 fish that were found dead in Ozark, Arkansas 24 hours after the birds in Beebe died.

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