What's With All The Dead Birds?

From Pamela, at Atlas Shrugs:


Birds are dying everywhere. It started here and the experts are confounded.

Mystery as thousands of birds fall from skyAmanda O'Brien January 10, 2007
THOUSANDS of birds have fallen from the skies over Esperance and no one knows why.

Is it an illness, toxins or a natural phenomenon? A string of autopsies in Perth have shed no light on the mystery.

All the residents of flood-devastated Esperance know is that their "dawn chorus" of singing birds is missing.

The main casualties are wattle birds, yellow-throated miners, new holland honeyeaters and singing honeyeaters, although some dead crows, hawks and pigeons have also been found.

Wildlife officers are baffled by the "catastrophic" event, which the Department of Environment and Conservation said began well before last week's freak storm.

On Monday, Esperance, 725km southeast of Perth, was declared a natural disaster zone.
District nature conservation co-ordinator Mike Fitzgerald said the first reports of birds dropping dead in people's yards came in three weeks ago. More than 500 deaths had since been notified. But the calls stopped suddenly last week, reportedly because no birds were left.

"It's very substantial. We estimate several thousand birds are dead, although we don't have a clear number because of the large areas of bushland," Mr Fitzgerald said.

Birds Australia, the nation's main bird conservation group, said it had not heard of a similar occurrence. "Not on that scale, and all at the same time, and also the fact that it's several different species," chief executive Graeme Hamilton said. "You'd have to call that a most unusual event and one that we'd all have to be concerned about."

In New York and New Jersey the birds were dying by the score;

NEW YORK: What's That Smell? FOX NEWS Natural gas-like odor forces building evacuations across Manhattan; New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg says initial reports show substance isn't harmful, although still no word on what it is.

And scores more dead birds in Austin;

TEXAS: Downtown Austin Shut Down After Dead Birds Found FOX NEWS: AUSTIN, Texas — Police shut down a 10-block stretch of Congress Avenue in the heart of downtown early Monday after up to 60 dead birds were found, but a state health official said preliminary air-quality tests showed no dangerous chemicals and that the area should reopen soon.