5 Jan 2011

Dead Birds Falling From the Sky and Fireworks

Red-winged Blackbird by Rob Travis

There have been reports all over the media about dead Red-winged Blackbirds falling out of the sky in the United States and Jackdaws in Sweden from the BBCDaily MailLos Angeles Times and the Huffington Post,. Social media such as facebook and twitter have quickly spread these reports round the world.

In my opinion the Red-winged Blackbirds in Beebe Arkansas were affected by the fireworks on New Years Eve. They would have been at a roost site close to where they died probably sharing it with Starlings, Common Grackles and Brown-headed Cowbirds. By the time the fireworks were going off all these birds would have been at their roost site and with the sudden explosions and flashes of light the birds would have all left the roost in panic. Red-winged Blackbirds tend not to fly at night so would have been completely disorientated being able to see one minute as a firework lit up the sky and then not the next. They probably flew into buildings and overhead wires. I suspect the same thing happened in Sweden where up to fifty Jackdaws were found dead.

I witnessed something similar in Belfast at halloween in October 1999 when pyrotechnics expert Christopher Bertonneau did a dry run for the Millenium New Years Eve Party in Belfast. The fireworks were launched from a bridge over the River Lagan and a pontoon on the river. This was very close to the Albert bridge a renowned roost site for Starlings. The first bangs startled the birds and they were flying everywhere. They were flying into people, they were flying into the large plate glass windows of the Waterfront Hall, some were flying straight into the road. Then there were birds that had obviously flown into buildings and had sort of bounced/flew back before falling. I believe a few hundred were found dead in the area the following day.




4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Craig I'm so with you on fireworks. I think of wildlife every October and NYE. Friends were hit on the body by starlings on millenium NYE. I think it's because of the fireworks that the birds moved up stream to the Albert Bridge.

Every NYE watching fireworks on TV birds can be seen flying around

Keep up the good work.

Mark
Antrim

NatureFootstep said...

this happened in Sweden as well 2 days ago. That is several days after new years eve in the town Falköping. They are investigating the event now. I think it was jackdaws here.
I read the article now. It seems liek teh birds had been sitting on the street, weak due to cold and too little food. And at least one person had drowe into the flock that did not move.

The Falconer's Wife said...

Very interesting!

Henry Ruiz said...

Hi,
Your blog is very interesting and I can relate with it since I run two myself, You are invited to see them:
http://avian101.wordpress.com
and my new: http://mywingedpals.blogspot.com

Keep up the good work!