Big Strange & Odd Bird Behavior Noted Prior to a Large Die-Off in My Backyard! Seymour, TN!

A couple weeks ago, I started this thread: Birds!!!

Short excerpt:

If you have never been in the akward situation I'm about to describe, chances are you know someone who has been, or you've seen it played out in a comedy skit... In a loud room, you find yourself in a somewhat inappropriate conversation. As you're saying something damning - a curse word, etc - the room instantly goes quiet, and your embarrassing shouts are heard by all.

The birds continued to chirp constantly, then, instantly, every single bird chirp stopped without any apparent reason. Their chirps literally stopped instantly and simultaneously - all their chirps.

There was no other loud noise, like a gun-shot or a loud vehicle, that may have spooked them. Instantly, after several seconds of complete silence, all the birds began to chirp again. Instantly, their whistles returned to the same expanse and audible instensity found prior to the silence.

In the thread, several members suggessted it was natural behavior, but I knew it wasn't. Living here my whole life, I have never heard this before. So, it was pretty much 'debunked' as nothing more than a previously overlooked behavior.

Another thing I found odd was the fact the birds were of many different varieties and most, if not all, should have long since migrated out of this region. No video or audio made the thread less than what I hoped for. I wanted someone who could give a probable explanation, based on past experience, but they were hard to find with only text descriptions

There was another event, a few days before I posted that thread, where I found a bird in my yard, acting very wierd. It was standing in one spot, not scared of me or my dog as we approached. It just sat there... It's head was bobbing back and forth, as if it were nodding 'Yes'. This went on for hours, then the bird seemed to vanish. Maybe it flew away, a cat or dog got it, or it moved to a new spot.

I thought it odd enough to call the local University for advice. They said they do not check black birds, but they do check crows. In my infinite wisdom, I told her it was a big black bird - it didn't cross my mind that a 'big black bird' IS a crow.

They eventually came out, but by then it was gone. They checked the area, but I don't know if they found it or not, I've heard nothing from them since.

The morning of the recent local bird die-off, I woke to a very strange sound. It was a very low pass frequency, best described as bass from a subwoofer. The sound was a persistent and ongoing. It would grow in intensity before fading to a faint sound, then returning to a loud constant.

The pitch didn't change much, if at all and lasted for hours, from about 5am until about 11.30am

I thought about posting a thread on here about the Strange Phenomena taking place here, but I didn't. I thought it would have been largely redundant, because of this thread I posted on January 10th, 2012 and this post describing the first time I noticed the sound, several months before the thread I authored about the 2nd time I heard the noise (linked above).

It is very odd for me, knowing I heard the strange behavior of the birds and then heard the strange sound phenomena again, just hours before a bird die-off less than 2.5 miles from my house.

This isn't quietly fading away, it is increasing in intensity, frequency, and now with a possible link to a bird die-off.

OK, a strange sound, it's odd, but probably an isolated incident with an explanation...

OK, the strange sound phenomena... again, it's odd, it may be the same as the other sound, but maybe not an isolated event...

OK, strange bird flock behavior, it's odd, but probably an isolated incident with a good explanation...

OK, strange sound phenomena... again, it's maybe the same as the other sounds, but probably not an isolated incident...

OK, strange bird die-off taking place almost immediately following the most recent sound phenomena... maybe it's linked to the other events, probably not isolated, with no solid explanation, but hey, nothing to worry about, right?

It does disturb me, the fear of the unknown. Do these events pose a threat to my health? Knowing the events continue to occur with increasing frequency, and now a possible connection to a massive bird die-off, just hours after the sound stopped.

I wish there was a solid, cut and dry explanation to explain these things around here... Don't flame me for this next comment, please... but, I have to wonder if any of this is somehow linked to something else that happened to me a few days ago.

This thread explains those wierd events I experienced.

Here is Carreau's thread that does a nice job detailing the local die-off, literally just a couple miles away from my house

reply to post by esteay812


I saw, in Indiana, several flocks of Canadian geese flying northeast. I thought that to be odd, never seen them come through this time of year, especially in that direction. They could have been local geese flying from one location to another in the area.

reply to post by Turkenstein


I am by far no expert on migratory bird patterns in our climate zone, but I have always thought, 'Birds fly south for the winter', well before it becomes too cold for them to survive.

It's odd and I would really like to understand why it is changing in such a noticeable way.

reply to post by esteay812


I remember your original bird post because it had happened to me too back in October a month before your experience... I haven't heard any low pitch sounds but I have ringing in the ears so it would be hard for me to decipher anyways.. I definitely going to be keeping my ears open though!! How strange and we did have a massive bird die off here not too long ago in the state where birds literally fell out of the sky according to witnesses, it was on the local news and you could see hundreds of black bird carcasses all over but the town is well to the north of me by a hundred miles or so... this is weird I do declare.

It is natural behavior.. I've seen it all my life .. I live near the woods as I have since a child ( I'm 35 ) .. anything can spook birds.. a predator .. frequencies you can't hear.. magnetic fields from power lines.. ( power surges ) .. any number of things could be responsible.. but it happens.. it's not an every day thing of course..

I'm not speaking as a scientist so I don't know what exactly causes it .. I'm just suggesting that any number of things could be to blame.. but it certainly happens and has been happening since I was a little one =)

I've been debating starting my own thread on local bird behavior around here as well. No die-offs that I know of, but..

Around 2 months ago, black birds started flying NNW over my house. Not in any discernible pattern, kinda just spread out about every 10 feet or so. The weird thing is that this constant, and I do mean constant stream of black birds didn't stop for about 5 weeks.

Being so close to winter it struck me as odd that they were going NNW. Also the sheer number of birds caught my attention. If I had to guess, based on their almost perfect "random" formation throughout the entirety of those 5 weeks, I'd say 100,000 birds went over my house. Strangest thing I've ever witnessed.

I also just a couple weeks ago witnessed a complete silence of wildlife, as you describe. Where I live, we like to call it Wild Kingdom. You can pick any random minute out of any day, and if you look out my back window, something will be in my yard. Hundreds of chirping birds, all the time. Deer, fox, coyote, rabbit, you name it. Back a couple weeks ago, those "earth rumbles" started around here again for half the day. During the entirety of the rumbling, not a single creature made a noise, moved, farted, nothing at all.

S&F for you OP

For the last couple of weeks my husband and I have noticed anytime we see a flock of geese they are flying straight east. I live in Michigan.

reply to post by miniatus


Yes, it may happen that way where you live, but that is irrelevant for my location. Living at the same address for 2.5 decades and hearing the sounds of my neighborhood all those years... this has never happened this way in the past. I do not live in an area where I am in the middle of the forest or an area that is frequented by mid-size predators... although they are not completely absent.

I could look directly out my window to the area of trees where all the noise was going on. When it stopped, I looked, nothing out of the ordinary, no dogs barking, no cats prowling, no large predatory birds circling above, no person walking down the road or among the trees.

In this situation, there was no apparent cause that would lead me to believe there was a predatory threatening the birds. It happened a few times as well and each time there were no obvious reasons for the behavior.

Same thing that was said about the event in a previous thread and, like then, I am certain this explanation is not plausible in this particular scenario.

reply to post by mattdel


Thank for the comment mattdel!

As a member of ATS, I have always gone by the idea that, if I think I want to open a thread about something that interests me, I open it. Many times the content isn't always what the membership here really enjoys, but it serves a purpose for me, as a member, and that is why I opened my account - to get answers and discussion on things I am curious about.

So if you think you should open a thread, I say, 'Just Do It' - (please, don't sue me Nike!)

reply to post by hardamber


You're the 2nd person in this short thread who has mentioned something similar. Check the 1st reply and see if it is familiar.

Originally posted by Turkenstein
reply to post by esteay812

 

I saw, in Indiana, several flocks of Canadian geese flying northeast. I thought that to be odd, never seen them come through this time of year, especially in that direction. They could have been local geese flying from one location to another in the area.

I live in Pennsylvania and just the other day saw a large flock of geese heading northwest and thought it was very odd for this time of year as well

reply to post by smurfzilla


Maybe we should check our compasses, non-digital compasses, to see if they are malfunctioning during these strange sightings

I remember a lot of people reporting that their compasses were not reading correctly a while back. I wonder if they also notices anything odd with nature? Maybe the people reporting the broken compasses didn't notice problems with nature. However, there may have been other, seperate, reports of strange animal behaviour in the same area, at the same time.

Originally posted by esteay812
I found a bird in my yard, acting very wierd. It was standing in one spot, not scared of me or my dog as we approached.

I have a pet bird in my office at my house, and it is allowed to fly around the room, and rarely ever escapes, even when the doors are open. It hates me and won't let me get near it.
Two days ago though, a friend of mine gave me a subwoofer, and it drives the bird insane and makes it act just like this, letting me hold it and staying on the ground. My subwoofer is two rooms over, but whenever it plays, the bird manages to escape the office and run to the sound, even when the doors were tightly closed. It creeps the hell out of me.
I honestly have no idea, but I think it must be low frequencies like the one you mentioned screwing with those birds.

reply to post by HBurd


You know, I really wouldn't be surprised at this point. I have heard those very low pass frequencies for some time now, though only periodically.

Generally, the low pass frequencies maintain a similar process each time I hear them, but sometimes they do vary a bit. When there is a noticeable difference, it is usually in the form of a fluctuating frequency/audible intensity, where the noise moves up and down as if it is following a wave pattern. The audible intensity could be an artifact created by the rise and fall of the tonal frequency - an illusion of the volume increasing as the frequency rises and our ears are more properly suited to decipher.

I think our frequency perception bottoms out around 16-18hz, anything below that we can not detect without a supplemental hearing device.

The strange actions of these birds could be resulting from an ULPF, or Ultra Low-Pass Frequency, that our hearing design is incapable of detecting. If this is really happening, it would be nice to know where the low-pass frequencies originate.

I will look into finding a device that can detect ULPF's, if it's affordable, I may pick it up and test it out. It would be nice to have one that monitors the sound wave frequencies non-stop and pinpoints where and when the changes (if any) take place.