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Fireworks Cause Deaths Of Thousands Of Arkansas Blackbirds, Official Says

Jessika Walsten |
January 5, 2011 | 9:42 p.m. PST

Deputy Editor

Red-winged blackbird. (Photo by hart_curt via Flickr)
Red-winged blackbird. (Photo by hart_curt via Flickr)
Nearly 5,000 blackbirds fell to their death in Beebe, Ark. New Year's Eve after being scared out of their roost by fireworks, an Arkansas Game and Fish Commission official said Wednesday.

The professional grade fireworks spooked the birds, which have a hard time seeing at night, causing them to fly into houses, cars and the ground at speeds of 25 mph, said Karen Rowe, an ornithologist at the Game and Fish Commission.

"They were bouncing off houses, basketball backboards, trucks," Rowe said.

Speculation as to what caused the birds to die has ranged from weather to disease and even to martians.

A preliminary report released Monday indicated the blackbirds died from massive trauma that included internal bleeding and blod clots.

The news comes on the heels of the deaths of 50 to 100 jackdaws in Sweden.



 

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