More Dead Birds. With a Twist?

I have, what I believe to be, a very odd case of mass bird deaths happening in the Northwest Arkansas area. The birds affected seem to be robins. I say seem to be because it is hard to tell. They are all babies. Baby birds who are too young to even have feathers, for the most part.

I first noticed the birds on Tuesday, I believe, of this week on a jobsite. I had left the house I was working on to make a trip to Lowes and when I came back two baby birds had apparently fallen from their nest in the big oak tree in the front yard. Landing right in front of where I had parked my truck. Now these birds were not there when I had left only 20 minutes before. I know this because I had to step over them when I was walking back into the house. Furthermore, they were stone dead. I did not get any pictures of these two birds and really didn't think much of it until yesterday, Thursday.

Yesterday my girlfriend was walking home from picking her daughter up at preschool and shot me a text message telling me about all the dead birds next to the building. Curious, I asked her to tell me more about it and she relayed that there were six dead baby birds strewn about the sidewalk near the building, and then I started wondering what was going on. It was only today that I started trying to actually investigate things a little because once again Kay told me today that there were even more dead birds outside the building. Ten or so in total now, and at least one of them had appeared there within a span of three hours today. So, I asked her to snap a few photos and went over myself when I got off work.

Things that seemed very odd to me:

These birds appeared to be dead before they hit the ground. I say this because a baby bird falling from a nest at the height of ten, or even twenty feet, isn't going to die on impact. I believe they are dying in their nests and their mothers are throwing them out.

None of the other birds in the area are concerned about them at all. No swooping my head as I walk amongst their dead young.

No other animals will have anything to do with them. No ants. No beetles. Cats aren't dragging them off. They are just sitting there decomposing.

Blueish colored heads. Even on the ones that are recently deceased. Very noticeable in person. You will have to excuse the rather poor quality of the photos.

....

So anyhow, has anyone else noticed any of this going on? If not, people may want to start looking. I do not believe this to be an isolated incident. Especially not with all the other birds dropping from the sky. I will continue to keep my eyes peeled and if I find more I will include them here.

Here are some of the pics I have of the birds so far. Thoughts?

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/1c874e11c8af.jpg[/atsimg]
This is a picture of the general area several of these have been found. That awning serves as a nesting area to several robins.

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/49bde9dc1513.jpg[/atsimg]
This is a closeup of one of the baby birds. As you can see there is some severe discoloration around the head and these birds are much too young to be taking their first flight and just falling to the concrete below.

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/7368c9dfd122.jpg[/atsimg]
Two near eachother. One very recent the other has been there for a little while. Amazed that they aren't being drug off by cats or something.

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/f1771f8452ed.jpg[/atsimg]
Two more.

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/0e0f5ec0a5cb.jpg[/atsimg]
And finally this one. This bird has apparently been there for awhile now. Yet there it remains. Nothing has taken it off. It is like nothing wants any part of these birds.

I believe they are dying in their nests and being thrown out like trash by their mothers. Likely due to some sort of illness. Kinda dissettling.

reply to post by JayinAR


That is definitely strange, as well as sad..
I don't really have anything more to say... Something serious is going on. It's obvious that they didn't get disoriented in flight by fireworks because they can't fly. I don't know if they are old enough to have to pick up on the magnetosphere (assuming birds develop similar to human babies).. So this is VERY strange...

ETA: FLAG THIS so we can get some people who know something about birds on this thread!

interesting that they aren't being eatin...usually they get eatin up pretty fast

Exactly. Nothing is eating these birds. Not even ants. And no, it isn't disorientation. They are dying in their nests. It is an illness. Has to be. With all of the recent rain the birds have plenty to eat. It shouldn't be malnutrition.

not sure but the idea came to me that poision incecticide..not strong enough to kill the parents..but parent birds feeding the young would kill them

I had 3 baby birds that had fallen out of my tree last summer. 2 were still alive and one was dead. It was only about a 10 foot drop on to grass but that fall can cause serious injury to a human and a baby bird is a lot more fragile so I would think the impact is definitely enough to cause death. As far as nothing eating the........no ideas.

what do robins eat?

I saw somewhere today (maybe here or USA Today, I'll look if some else doesn't find it) something about an earthworm plague somewhere in the midwest or northeast center.....

reply to post by JayinAR


I found one in my pool filter yesterday (YUCK!).... the pool is too far away from a tree for the bird to have fallen in.

It barely had "pin feathers " on it, so no way it flew there by itself. And it did appear to be a robin.

My dogs wouldn`t go near it after I dumped it on the ground (I`m actually glad they didn`t touch it!). I used a shovel to put it in a plastic bag to dispose of it, then disinfected the shovel. I didn`t want to take any chances.

Also noticed very few birds around today... I feed them in the front yard, and only saw a couple of doves all day. Very odd.

reply to post by MJZoo


Baby birds are very resilient. They survive falls out of trees all the time. Only half or so make their first flight successfully. Or so I've heard.

reply to post by JayinAR


Right but that's when they are actually ready to make their first flight. Which means they have to have feathers. Those birds did not have feathers. Those birds are very young.

reply to post by lakesidepark


That may very well be a factor in this. It will be interesting to find out. If it is an illness it is most likely coming from their diets.
Thanks for the input.

Poor little baby birds! I hate to see this happening. Very strange that insects are not all over these dead birds. Wonder what that's all about? Keep us posted and see if you can learn any more about the situation.

reply to post by MJZoo


I hear what you're saying, but I don't think that's it. I'm pretty sure these birds are dead before they hit the ground. There wouldn't be so many of them if it were accidental like that. Not only that, but these nests are well placed up in the awning of that building. I can't believe ten or a dozen birds all just fall out of those nests like that.

www.abovetopsecret.com...

I have yet to read it but it sure is a link worth investigating so here for the others just getting here. Appears it was reported everywhere....guess I'm a bit slow since I just read it today.

reply to post by Night Star


That's what I was most curious about. I would think there would be ants and beetles all over these birds. There is nothing on any of the birds.

Originally posted by dragonlover12
reply to post by JayinAR

 

I found one in my pool filter yesterday (YUCK!).... the pool is too far away from a tree for the bird to have fallen in.

It barely had "pin feathers " on it, so no way it flew there by itself. And it did appear to be a robin.

My dogs wouldn`t go near it after I dumped it on the ground (I`m actually glad they didn`t touch it!). I used a shovel to put it in a plastic bag to dispose of it, then disinfected the shovel. I didn`t want to take any chances.

Also noticed very few birds around today... I feed them in the front yard, and only saw a couple of doves all day. Very odd.

Oh my God, I too have seen dead baby birds in the past where there are no trees near enough or a building near enough for it to have fallen from! Now what the heck is that all about I wonder????

reply to post by Night Star


Maybe a raptor (hawks,etc.) scooped it out of its nest,then realised there was a problem with the baby bird and dropped it?

I hope its not a new "bird flu".

I will be on the lookout for more,although I REALLY hope I don`t see any more!

The part that makes this most unusual to me is the fact that
other animals and insects won't go near the baby birds.
I wanted to ask the OP if anything has been sprayed in the
area, maybe for mosquitos or fleas. Very sad, let's keep
thinking on this - I will do some looking around for info.

reply to post by dragonlover12


I can't help but think this must be associated with all the other bird deaths in some weird way.
And yeah, lets hope it isn't another bird flu thing.

ETA: Also, the "raptor" idea is a good one, but doubtful. Like I said before the nests are tucked up under that awning. Very secure as far as that goes. We are also in the middle of town. Raptors seek the solitude of open country more often.

reply to post by crazydaisy


You know, that's a good question. But I don't think anything has been sprayed. They don't spray for mosquitos around here too often. Just not that big of a problem, thankfully (they are bad here, but not near as bad as other places I've been). And besides that it is too early in the year for it anyway. Mosquitos aren't quite "out" yet. Later on in the summer maybe.