Horrified By Arkansas Bird Deaths

You'd have to be a hermit, with no Internet, phone, television or radio connections, to NOT know about the 4,000+ red wing black birds that died in Arkansas this week. (500 more birds fell from the sky in nearby Louisiana). While the story is terribly horrifying, it's also fascinating to  read all of the hysterical suspicions about what may have caused this phenomena to transpire.

All that hype about end-of-the world scenarios? "Phlllbbbttt!"

As a gardener, and a "watcher of birds," I feel ridiculously suspicious of news reports that claim to know what caused the deaths. I also feel suspicious of claims that "only red wing blackbirds and starlings have died." On some level, I wonder if reporters have mistaken the female red wing black bird (see picture)

for the starling ... (see picture below).

Time will tell what caused the terrible hemorrhaging (broken necks, wings, internal bleeding) that forced the birds to fall. For now, one can assume that fireworks were NOT to blame (not when birds fly by day, fireworks typically happen after dark AND we've been lighting fireworks for centuries and never had this happen before.)

I also do not believe the birds suffered from some poisonous gasses that Fox News (cough) reported was released by a government official. (See previous comment about the birds suffering from hemorrhage, severe physical trauma - symptoms that gas exposure does NOT create).

I also do not believe it is the end of the world. The world is certainly changing. Plants, birds, land animals are all migrating to new (more amicable) places to live. Climate change is certainly happening whether we know the cause or not.

I do believe we need to determine the cause of these recent bird and fish tragedies so intervention can be made and  loss of wildlife will not continue.

Blessed be!