Mass bird deaths in TN in afternoon. 12-31-12

Originally posted by MrConspiracy
Wouldn't fireworks spook more than just one species of bird? I don't quite understand the idea that fireworks can only spook one species of bird to fall dead out of the sky.

Whilst I don't think it was fireworks in this case...

Birds tend to gather in flocks composed of the same species. So if you spook a flock, and all of them take off (as they usually do), then it stands to reason that with a higher concentration of one species in a small area, most of the dead birds (if not all) would be of the same species.

reply to post by FireballStorm


Y'all.

A WITNESS saw the birds get hit by a white car. Why do we doubt an eye witness?

Eyewitnesses: Why They Can't Be Trusted

The idea that people often incorrectly see, remember, and report what they experience is not merely theory but a proven fact; there are over 2,000 published scientific studies demonstrating it. By some estimates, as many as one-third of eyewitness identifications in criminal cases are wrong, and nearly 200 people who were convicted of crimes based on positive eyewitness identifications were later exonerated through DNA evidence.

I'm not saying it's not possible that a car hit the birds, but it's also possible that as the birds were falling from the sky or were already on the ground and a car drove through the carnage and this guy with a quick look THOUGHT the car caused it.

Originally posted by Wrabbit2000
A car killed them all? lol.... Now that is creative. It beats swamp gas and ball lightning .... but then, how precisely WOULD they explain this? I believe a couple past incidents just gave up and left it at guesswork under a big 'we dunno for sure'. However... with this?

A count of the birds on the scene stopped at around 50, when not even half of the visible birds were tallied. Perhaps dozens more were scattered in a nearby field, which was flooded from the recent rainfall. As far as 60 yards from the main site of the birds, individual starlings were found.

(Link from original OP)

What did the car do? Drive back and forth and out into the field? The birds must have been very depressed to keep running into the car repeatedly and all over the place like that.

I've seen my share of bird strikes in my years of driving a truck. I've nailed a few myself, in fact. ONE...they don't just plop down, pretty as you please with no visible damage to them. They kinda pop into a little cloud of feathers and what does land ...isn't clean like the pictures there. You also don't get a whole flock of at least 50..and the article states as many as 300...all hit in one big mass. Heck, the car would look worse than they did. I don't know how they figure that story works

edit on 2-1-2013 by Wrabbit2000 because: (no reason given)

My daughter and I happened upon the one that happened here on Fremont a few weeks back, just after it occurred (mid-afternoon too). They attempted to tentatively blame it on a truck, no way, or at least not in my opinion.

I noticed them from about two blocks away and asked her "do you see that, what is it?" I didn't want to plant my opinion and she looked up and said "they're birds". There were over a hundred of them maybe two hundred and the only ones that appeared damaged were the few that had been run over after they fell.

At least we didn't hear the fireworks crap.

reply to post by FireballStorm


I completely understand the flock part.... But why would fireworks only spook one flock? if it's enough to spook one flock, id presume other types of birds would be spooked too?

reply to post by JustSlowlyBackAway


You might want to read my post again. I didn't say anywhere that it was fireworks, or that it wasn't a car.

While I do think eyewitness testimony can be extremely unreliable under certain circumstances, I don't see any reason why it could not have been a car, and while Carreau's idea that the car drove through the birds while they were falling (the odds of this would be extremely low) or already dead is possible (despite the witness statement), I don't think it's more likely than a car plowing through the birds and killing some of them.

Originally posted by MrConspiracy
reply to post by FireballStorm

 

I completely understand the flock part.... But why would fireworks only spook one flock? if it's enough to spook one flock, id presume other types of birds would be spooked too?

Maybe this particular species of bird is the bumbling moron of the bird world? Hey, it's possible

Has anyone checked the ages of the birds in flock? It could be something like bird dementia or an age-specific malady, if we're going to kick out theories. Humans with dementia & other age-specific diseases don't act all there, why would any other species? That is of course assuming enough birds were above an age threshold for this theory. OR. Toxicology & genetic profiles would be sweet. I'd be looking at possible communicable disease or genetic mutations within the flock this year & last year in Beebe.

Personally, my money's on genetic mutation, possibly effecting judgement. Look at what they eat & what WE spray on it. It's probably more likely than not.

reply to post by MrConspiracy


Why would there necessarily be more than one flock in the same localized area, unless it was a feeding ground/wetland type area (and there are a few more exceptions eg. some species nest together) which does not sound like the case here?

In my experience, it's not usual to see more than one flock at the same time, although there is the occasional exception as I noted above.

reply to post by Carreau
It's almost like they are one being to die all at once like that.
Then the flock would be like the whole being.
Strange.

It's a sign!! 12/21/2012. Wait that already passed. They must have been drunk. I'm sure that's what it was.

Originally posted by tport17

Originally posted by Wrabbit2000

So no one actually saw them in-flight when they went from straight and level to falling as dead and dying? Damn...

Well, I linked a website above. Someone that lives there near the incident saw the birds swirling around the road and a white car speed through and hit the birds.

So....a car hit the birds....that's certainly no mystery! Believable, too. I have had birds fly right in front of my car before, and barely missed them. Not a big flock, but it could happen. Now I have to wonder, how many other cases are on/near a road?

Originally posted by Wrabbit2000
A car killed them all? lol.... Now that is creative. It beats swamp gas and ball lightning .... but then, how precisely WOULD they explain this? I believe a couple past incidents just gave up and left it at guesswork under a big 'we dunno for sure'. However... with this?

A count of the birds on the scene stopped at around 50, when not even half of the visible birds were tallied. Perhaps dozens more were scattered in a nearby field, which was flooded from the recent rainfall. As far as 60 yards from the main site of the birds, individual starlings were found.

(Link from original OP)

What did the car do? Drive back and forth and out into the field? The birds must have been very depressed to keep running into the car repeatedly and all over the place like that.

I've seen my share of bird strikes in my years of driving a truck. I've nailed a few myself, in fact. ONE...they don't just plop down, pretty as you please with no visible damage to them. They kinda pop into a little cloud of feathers and what does land ...isn't clean like the pictures there. You also don't get a whole flock of at least 50..and the article states as many as 300...all hit in one big mass. Heck, the car would look worse than they did. I don't know how they figure that story works

edit on 2-1-2013 by Wrabbit2000 because: (no reason given)

They don't give a real count, though, of birds not in sight. A "nearby field" could be right beside the road, and badly injured birds might make it there. The kids on site could have moved some into that other area, farther out, too, since we are told kids were kicking them off the road. Some curious ones might have picked up a few, to take a closer look. If a flock did fly in the path of a speeding car (and some people do speed in residential areas), then it's possible. That said, yes, the car would show some damage. They know from a witness it was a white car, and it's possible that car will show up for repairs someplace soon. Of course, hitting birds isn't a crime, if the birds flew in front of the car, so the local authorities might not even be looking.

The count, though...."perhaps dozens more"....that's not a precise number. Perhaps a handful, perhaps 24-ish. Unless they give a more precise number, I won't take that comment as anything but speculation.

Of course, there is another possibility. Something else could have killed them, and the car could have gone through as they were falling. If that's the case, maybe the driver saw something that would help. Only problem there is, the PETA nuts would be after them, blaming them for the whole thing.

We will probably never know.

Originally posted by tport17

Originally posted by Wrabbit2000

So no one actually saw them in-flight when they went from straight and level to falling as dead and dying? Damn...

Well, I linked a website above. Someone that lives there near the incident saw the birds swirling around the road and a white car speed through and hit the birds.

Originally posted by GeisterFahrer
reply to post by Carreau

 

Yes. And how do you know it wasn't fireworks? A couple of kids were kicking them out of the road when they were discovered.

The kids just appeared out of nowhere huh?

i'm sorry, do you think about the things you type?

how does one car... or a firwork show big enough to kill DOZENS of birds. did you look at the pictures? they were everywhere. and DOZENS of them. try again please.

Originally posted by Dizrael

Originally posted by tport17

Originally posted by Wrabbit2000

So no one actually saw them in-flight when they went from straight and level to falling as dead and dying? Damn...

Well, I linked a website above. Someone that lives there near the incident saw the birds swirling around the road and a white car speed through and hit the birds.

Originally posted by GeisterFahrer
reply to post by Carreau

 

Yes. And how do you know it wasn't fireworks? A couple of kids were kicking them out of the road when they were discovered.

The kids just appeared out of nowhere huh?

i'm sorry, do you think about the things you type?

how does one car... or a firwork show big enough to kill DOZENS of birds. did you look at the pictures? they were everywhere. and DOZENS of them. try again please.

Actually, yes, I do think before I type. I also posted an article where a similar incident happened - and people were claiming aliens, poison, end of the world prophesies (sound familiar?) caused it.

Nope. Fireworks did.

Who sets off fireworks at 1 in the afternoon? Kids who can't wait do.

So now we have another article where a car drove through a flock of birds - all one species I may add - no crows mixed with ducks I am afraid - all one species

I guess that must mean something detrimental to our survival here on earth

I guess those poison toting aliens fulfilling the end of the world prophecy are species specific.

Starlings are known to move into the trees in residential areas and crap all over every thing.. The odor is overwhelming and the bird droppings has been known to carry diseases... The way I've heard of ridding an area of them is too spray them with a solution mostly of detergent that breaks down the oil on their wings the night before a freeze.. When the oil is no longer on them the freezing temperature kills them... They did this in Waco Texas at the VA Hospital during the winter of 1993 because the patients, staff and visitors as well as the sidewalks lawns and grass was getting covered by the droppings... In recent years the practice of spraying them like that has become illegal but that doesn't mean that people in a neighborhood didn't take it upon themselves to do it.... I've been in areas where starlings were inhabiting and the odor was overwhelming.

reply to post by LadyGreenEyes

We each have our opinions... I'll stick with mine from 15 years of professional driving across this nations interstates day in and day out for about 90% of that time. In my professional opinion as an experienced commercial driver? There is absolutely no way in creation a passenger vehicle went through what the article states was a count of 50 when they stopped bothering to count more.

A count of the birds on the scene stopped at around 50, when not even half of the visible birds were tallied. Perhaps dozens more were scattered in a nearby field, which was flooded from the recent rainfall. As far as 60 yards from the main site of the birds, individual starlings were found.

(Op Link)

I'd want pics before I'd believe a 18 wheel TRUCK would take out that many at once and I've never seen more than 2 or 3. (Birds tend to veer off sharply and even make games of it, to watch them sometimes) This is with vehicles running 70-80 mph, not whatever this car was doing on the edge of a residential neighborhood.

The story doesn't even pass the laugh test in my judgement and opinion. Though again, we all have our opinions and if folks want to believe these birds were clumped in a "swirling mass" roughly 4 feet by 6-6.5 feet, (Avg car width looks to be around 79 inches or so.. and 4 feet is a decent guess for an avg car height as well) and all got hit fatally, then I suppose... Pretty much anything works.

60 yards... BTW.., would be 180 feet out into a flooded field. That's a long way for a wounded bird to hop or flop..and getting out of the water after the first splash out to go the rest? Hmmm... It sounds perfectly reasonable for them falling scattered from a bit of altitude though. Just my thoughts...

Wow, just figured I would share.

This is my home, I was born and raised right around the corner from where this pic is.
Seymour isn't known for much.. nice to see us get some credit for all our damn road kill.

At any rate, a sign of the end times is my bet..

Well, looks like it was starlings instead of blackbirds. Nowhere near Louisiana.

www.abovetopsecret.com...

Did fireworks take out these birds? Not likely, just an explaination to explain the unknown at this point.

Did a vehicle take out these birds? Very very unlikely as it was reported that about 30-50 birds were found near the road, but ~300 birds were in the nearby field. That must have been ONE BIG VEHICLE. lol.

If I had to guess, could be a methane cloud. Its lighter than air, colorless, oderless, and deadly to small animals. Think about the "canary in the mine" scenario.

Or....it was HAARP!

Cheers!

I want to expand on my methane hypothesis. Methane is considered a "simple aphxiant", meaning it replaces atmospheric oxygen an causes aphxiation. Just look at the state of the birds at the time. It is colorless and orderless (commcercially another chemical is added which causes the "rotten egg" smell). It is found naturally in the environment and can seep through the soil and through water. A common source of methane can be found in coal for one thing. I don't know if this location is in coal country, but that could be a source. Methane is lighter than air, in large amounts it can form a cloud, if the conditions are right. Normally it just disapates into the environment.

If a weather inversion is present, meaning high altitude warmer air compresses low altitude cooler air, oxygen rich air would be closer to ground level; the methane cloud would reside in the warmer air. Think about how cooking oil would layer on water in a glass. That would be a repersentation of what I'm talking about. This would explain why we don't see dead squirrels and cow at ground level, and while birds in flight could encounter the methane cloud.

If a methane cloud large enough to take out approx. 300 birds were in the area, I would hope no one would be setting off fireworks. I don't know what would happen, but we all know that methane is extreamly flammible. lol.

What gets me is the timeing. It seems to happen around New Years/ New Years Eve. I could see if it were a week or two either way, but in the last few years its been odd that is been within a day or two in different locations.

So, there is my contribution...not fireworks, or trucks, but gas.

It wasn't fireworks and it wasn't the work of a car. You're being silly if you think it could be.

reply to post by GeisterFahrer


It has never been because of fireworks. 1,000's of birds have fell from the sky in other states and it wasn't because of fireworks. 1,000's of fish died suddenly in rivers for no reason! This has all been happening within the last few years. I've lived in TN since I was born and fireworks are not legal in all counties.