Flock of birds mysteriously die in New York
Pastor Dale Morgan
Flock of birds mysteriously die in New York*
BY JOE GOULD and RICH SCHAPIRO
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS WRITERS
December 23nd 2007, 4:00 AM
More than 510 birds plummeted to the pavement in Bay Terrace in Staten
Island.
Droves of dead birds dropped from the sky in Staten Island Friday - and
city health officials don't know why.
More than 150 birds plummeted to the pavement in Bay Terrace about 3
p.m., causing frightened residents to scramble indoors.
"It was like Alfred Hitchcock's 'The Birds,'" said Donna Toti, 50.
"Birds were just falling out of the sky. They would land, lie on the
ground, flap and die."
The birds - all believed to be Purple Martins - landed within the Port
Regalle development near the intersection of Wiman Ave. and Tennyson
Drive. Some appeared to die in the air; others expired in the moments
after they hit the pavement, authorities said.
"When we pulled in, most of the birds were on the ground, floundering
and foaming at the mouth," said FDNY Battalion Chief John Giacella.
Giacella suggested that because all the birds were the same species they
likely got ill from something they ate. But he noted that he was far
from certain.
Health department officials collected the birds last night and were
sending them to a lab for testing.
A spokeswoman said it was too early to tell what led to their demise.
Officials from the city Department of Environmental Protection and the
Office of Emergency Management were at the scene last night.
Marc Zurlo, 33, and other residents were left scratching their heads.
"There's rumors about everything," he said. "The compost pile, ammonia,
that they must have ate something."
Zurlo said the birds were flying around crooked - "as if they were
drunk" - before torpedoing to the ground.
"It was like something you see in a movie," he added.