Mass Animal Deaths Are Not in Fact Unusual
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Mass Animal Deaths Are Not in Fact Unusual
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Re: Mass Animal Deaths Are Not in Fact Unusual
#2The more complete historical data is here: http://www.nwhc.usgs.gov/publications/quarterly_reports/inde...
the NWHC has quarterly reports on wildlife mortality dating back to 1995 online (and they claim to have records back to 1975 in databases).
Re: Mass Animal Deaths Are Not in Fact Unusual
#3They are perhaps quite common, but I think they are unusual and should be investigated to see if they pose a risk to humans or other species.
Re: Mass Animal Deaths Are Not in Fact Unusual
#4Direct link to the map the article is based on: http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&msa=0&msid=20...
Re: Mass Animal Deaths Are Not in Fact Unusual
#5They are up to 5,000+ dead blackbirds now in that one town.
I find that highly disturbing. If it was 5,000 across the USA, it would be worrisome and sad but somehow in one place (and then more in another place) gets the "alarming" label for me.
Don't forget all the fish-kills and how they now think the mass bee extinction is from seemingly EPA approved pesticides.
Re: Mass Animal Deaths Are Not in Fact Unusual
#6They are up to 5,000+ dead blackbirds now in that one town. I find that highly disturbing. If it was 5,000 across the USA, it would be worrisome and sad but somehow in one place (and then more in another place) gets the "alarming" label for me. Don't forget all the fish-kills and how they now think the mass bee extinction is from seemingly EPA approved pesticides.
Considering a flock of blackbirds can consist of several million birds, 5000 aren't actually that many. Numbers like that are only relevant in context.
Re: Mass Animal Deaths Are Not in Fact Unusual
#7They are up to 5,000+ dead blackbirds now in that one town. I find that highly disturbing. If it was 5,000 across the USA, it would be worrisome and sad but somehow in one place (and then more in another place) gets the "alarming" label for me. Don't forget all the fish-kills and how they now think the mass bee extinction is from seemingly EPA approved pesticides.
5,000 birds across the country? That's about one for every area the size of Rhode Island. Blackbirds are the most abundant kind of bird on this continent. A few thousand here or there is literally not going to make any difference. This is not nearly on the same scale as the bee crisis.
Edit: Even if there are only 10 million blackbirds living at any given time (I'm sure there are more), and they have a lifespan of 5 years, that's a turnover of 5,400 on an average day.
Re: Mass Animal Deaths Are Not in Fact Unusual
#8They are up to 5,000+ dead blackbirds now in that one town. I find that highly disturbing. If it was 5,000 across the USA, it would be worrisome and sad but somehow in one place (and then more in another place) gets the "alarming" label for me. Don't forget all the fish-kills and how they now think the mass bee extinction is from seemingly EPA approved pesticides.
I listened to an explanation of this earlier (I will see if I can find documentation) -- the blackbirds travel in extremely large flocks and follow a leader very tightly (much closer in proximity to each other than most birds). The birds travel at night and can be disoriented by things such as fireworks, lightning, or other flashing lights. If the leading bird is disoriented, it could cause the bird to fly directly into the ground, a building, or any other large bird-killing object. This leads to an almost lemming-like mass suicide of the flock.
I also believe that it has been documented to have happened fairly regularly. The numbers I heard today were 16 times in the past 30 years there has been a mass death of over 1000 birds.
Found this regarding mass animal deaths -- http://www.nwhc.usgs.gov/mortality_events/ongoing.jsp
Re: Mass Animal Deaths Are Not in Fact Unusual
#9They are perhaps quite common, but I think they are unusual and should be investigated to see if they pose a risk to humans or other species.
investigate? yes. panic? no.
Re: Mass Animal Deaths Are Not in Fact Unusual
#10Mass Animal Deaths Are Not in Fact Unusual ... especially in the middle of winter, when food is hardest to find.