Grisly mystery after scores of starlings fall out of the sky and lie dying... in a SINGLE front gard

Grisly mystery after scores of starlings fall out of the sky and lie dying... in a SINGLE front garden

www.dailymail.co.uk

It was like a grisly scene from a horror film.

On Sunday night, over a quiet Somerset house, scores of swooping starlings tumbled out of the sky and fell, dead, into a single front garden.

Covering an area 12ft across, more than 100 birds carpeted the garden, each with blood oozing from its beak and curled up claws.

Most had died, although some flapped lamely, clearly in pain until the RSPCA put them out of their misery.

(visit the link for the full news article)

What could have caused this bizarre event?
Some of the comments on the article speculate that a shotgun blast could have caused all these deaths,although no one reported hearing any shots.

The blood mentioned could have appeared due to the birds falling from a height though,and and shot could be easily identified.

Anyone have any other ideas as to why som many birds dropped out of the sky and landed so close together?

Weird?
Or explainable?

www.dailymail.co.uk
(visit the link for the full news article)

reply to post by Silcone Synapse




a cloud or pocket of gas, perhaps a methane cloud,
could have mysteriously been floating around & the flock flew into it.

reply to post by St Udio


Good idea,I was thinking maybe a new cell phone tower was malfunctioning/turned up to high as the birds flew over,damaging their navigation skills.

wow this is really bizarre indeed. How on earth would that happen? I just can't think of a logical explaination especially if it's never happened before.
S+F

reply to post by Silcone Synapse


I don't know, it's quite local to me and this is the first I've heard of it... very odd to say the least.

I'm going to do some digging and see what I can find.

100 birds in an area 12ft across. I think with this bit of info (if it is correct) tells us that the birds were not flying either fast or at any significant height or else they would have been scattered across a larger debris field (think forward motion as they fall). Or they were flying upwards or downwards.

It sounds as though there was a 'clump' of birds that fell straight down....or fell from a very low height. Starlings not only flock together, they settle together too so maybe this clump was on an overhead wire or in a nearby tree when they were zapped with....well we might as well call it a death ray until we find out what it was.

Id definitely say low level incident (it was cetainly low level at the end !)

You'd probably be right Wobbly, I've had a quick search and come up with a few bits of important information:

Initially, Mr Scott thought that the birds might have flown into a glass conservatory while taking part in a murmeration – the apparently coordinated sky-dance of the starlings that takes place on nearby Shapwick Moor.

However;

But Mrs Knight said that the birds had not flown into anything – they simply fell out of the sky and into the garden.

The problem with Mrs Knight claiming she saw them fall out of the sky and into her garden is that she has stated the birds were on the ground already, as she discovered them upon returning from work. Without her claim the obvious answer would be the glass conservatory, and the injuries would support this theory.

Also of note is the fact that not all the birds were killed, some have been taken by the RSPCA and are currently being examined. I'll keep ATS updated, but I think this may amount to nothing.

[edit on 10-3-2010 by Goathief]

I have heard stories of this happening at places like White Sands, and 3 mile island...and other testing areas.

While I was in the ARMY, we had a particular surveillance RADAR/SINGAR that would drop birds out of the air. It is possible someone has one of these, or similar type of variable freq. type RADAR.

Of course I wouldn't rule out some kind of God's Touch being tested. It was at 1 location, and the birds in this locale were affected, but none outside of the yard.

It would be interesting to not only see a bird body that was affected, but also to check the viscosity of the birds blood, eyes, and joints.

Originally posted by daddymax
While I was in the ARMY, we had a particular surveillance RADAR/SINGAR that would drop birds out of the air. It is possible someone has one of these, or similar type of variable freq. type RADAR.

How big are these things, how are they used and why would someone be using one?

Could it have been some kind of shift in the magnetic field?

Could it have been West Nile virus?

Cutting hay releases pesticides-www.currykerlinger.com...

When I read this I immediately thought that the birds must have flown into a stationary object...

But how is it the birds did not see the stationary object??

~Perhaps the birds flew into a stealth object flying over this house??

An object with some form of Cloaking??

Here is a pic... They are no where near a conservatory or any glass...

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/5e1c3043b270.jpg[/atsimg]

Just a thought,

All the best,

Korg.

[edit on 10-3-2010 by Korg Trinity]

Having only seen a similar thing once where a few starlings flew into a new conservatory some years ago..

Tho after the first couple hit the rest changed course and the ones that did hit the glass where more stunnned than injured, and they did not so much as bounce off the glass as go splat falling no more than a couple of feet away..

So for a 100(odd) to hit it must have either been a very big swarm flying low at very high speed to proudce the spread pattern in the pic or something else completley..

It would be great to see the actual layout of the garden in relation to the spread of birds. Very strange incident indeed..

Originally posted by thoughtsfull

So for a 100(odd) to hit it must have either been a very big swarm flying low at very high speed to proudce the spread pattern in the pic or something else completley..

See my post above about murmeration.

I have to say that some of the explanations proposed here are laughable, from cloaked UFOs to military grade radar - I know the area very well and something like that would be noticed immediately. This happened on a main road by the look of things too, could have even been a passing lorry (though doubtful).

I noticed nobody has commented on the inconsistencies in the homeowner's story, that in itself speaks volumes.

Originally posted by Goathief
I have to say that some of the explanations proposed here are laughable, from cloaked UFOs to military grade radar -

Glad to be of service

2nd line lol ;p

Korg.

reply to post by Korg Trinity


Why edit a previous post to insert an extra line of text and a photo? Bad form.

Anyway, do you know what is on the other side of the brickwork? Could it be the conservatory that was noted by the RSPCA officer? Obviously it must be close by otherwise it would not have been mentioned.

If you want to use the photo as a basis of a claim, what about this one - why are there only 35 birds there when the owner claimed there were 100? Maybe they recovered and flew away or maybe she exaggerated her claim when asked, would that not fit as she's already been caught in a lie or untruth?

reply to post by Goathief


Just to rule out military involvement-are there any major installations in the area?
Any high powered antenna/radio type projects?

The blood on the beaks and feet does seem to suggest they birds impacted something-a light aircraft maybe(although this would have been repoerted I think).

Iv'e had a few birds fly into my house windows over the years,and some have had bloody beaks,due to hitting the window,although all seemed to land within a meter or so of what they hit.

Shame there was no witnesses to this event though.

Originally posted by Silcone Synapse
reply to post by Goathief

 

Just to rule out military involvement-are there any major installations in the area?
Any high powered antenna/radio type projects?

None at all to my knowledge, the only thing of note would be to spiritual types as it's on or near a major ley line.

I have also been looking for anything that has been built recently and come up with nothing.

wow, what a bizzare story to start the day off!

my guess is some sort of gas or toxin in the air they have feen flying through, this is most likely not near the houses.

i couldnt see it being a shotgun... 100 starlings is way to much for 1 shotgun blast to hit ! (theirs a hell of alot of starlings that flock round this area, 100 woudl be a small but not tiny cloud)

i really really doubt they all flew into a building.

the blood coming from the beak and them all falling dead at the same time, would, to me at least , seem that they either all flew through some sort of gas toxin, OR they all ate the toxin! and this toxin has took the same time to effect them all, by the sounds of it perhaps some ate more than others... this explains the lame ones flapping.

whaT is disturbing, is that if its poison, this coudl VERY well be deliberate!

reply to post by Goathief


Not sure what murmeration has to do with it.. Given the displays they put on in my home town, I would have thought if mummeration was the cause then we would see a lot more of these events..

Especially when the Starlings come into roost on the piers each night.



When the peirs are full the remainder fly into the town to roost..

So if this was down to mumeration I am sure I would have seen/heard about a lot more of this type of event..

As I said the only time I did see something similar the rest where agile enough to turn away..

Edit to add: hence my interest, I did not forward any notion.. but given the spread of the birds I am interested in finding out what happened... Sorry but mumeration does not cover it for me..

[edit on 10/3/10 by thoughtsfull]