'Catastrophic': Now thousands of birds fall from sky
Pastor Dale Morgan
'Catastrophic': Now thousands of birds fall from sky*
Wildlife officers baffled, autopsies shed no light on mystery
Posted: January 10, 2007
Thousands of birds inexplicably dropped like rocks from the sky over
Australia.
Thousands of wattle birds like this one have mysteriously dropped dead
in Australia
The mysterious catastrophe has taken place over a period of three weeks
in Esperance, about 450 miles southeast of Perth. The area was declared
a disaster zone by government officials.
So far, authorities are clueless as to the cause. Autopsies on the birds
have shed no light.
The main casualties, according to Australian news sources, are wattle
birds, yellow-throated miners, new holland honeyeaters and singing
honeyeaters. Some dead crows, hawks and pigeons have also been found.
Some birds were seen convulsing when they died.
Wildlife officers are baffled by what they characterize as a
"catastrophic" event. It does not appear to be weather-related.
District nature conservation coordinator Mike Fitzgerald said: "It's
very substantial. We estimate several thousand birds are dead, although
we don't have a clear number because of the large areas of bushland."
Birds Australia, the nation's main bird conservation group, said it had
not heard of a similar occurrence. "Not on that scale, and all at the
same time, and also the fact that it's several different species," chief
executive Graeme Hamilton said. "You'd have to call that a most unusual
event and one that we'd all have to be concerned about."
Just yesterday, some 60 birds fell out of the sky in Austin, Texas,
without explanation.
The incident prompted street closings for several hours.
Officials said they had tested the air for dangerous substances but
found nothing, and they declared the area safe.
The dead birds – grackles, sparrows and pigeons – were being checked for
avian flu, but officials said they saw no symptoms of the illness and
believed it more likely they had been poisoned, possibly deliberately,
or affected by near-freezing weather.