Fireworks blamed for death of 3,000 birds over Arkansas town

"A few stunned birds survived their fall and stumbled around like drunken revelers."

Who writes this garbage? Like 'drunken revelers'? Yeah, I'm sure they were just having a blast!

Anyway, if they died of trauma while in the air they would have had to have been pretty close to the blasts -- the sound waves travel quite far from fireworks, but the concussion doesn't travel as far.

Regardless of how much of a nuisance the birds may be, it's still a bit sad... not to mention the nuisance of having to clean up the carcasses.

There has just been another incident of mass blackbird deaths I saw on the US news this morning. This must throw the earlier firework theory into doubt.

Shock still has my vote. I once discharged a firearm in a barn and nearly a dozen of the birds dropped from the rafters, with no other discernable cause I can only assume it was the sound. I've also seen them die in significant numbers around the 4th of July, the 5th of May, and New Years though never in numbers as large as that in the article, never more than 30 or 40 at a time. But they reproduce quick enough.

It probably was fireworks, sound waves and air pressure do interesting things. Remember how when you go to a fireworks show and some of the explosions you can feel the rumble of the explosions in your gut? Imagine that happening to a creature with a faster paced heart rate, small body, and lightweight bones being hit by a precussive large sound wave from the explosions. Its rare to hear of this, so maybe the animals may have been in an area close enough to it to be damaged.

Super, you are right. Thanks!

Well:

Fireworks are diffrent than from 2010,2009,2008? Fireworks also kills 100.000 fish in Arkansas?

Fireworks Happen!!

And not to forget that now not too far away over 1,000 dead fish. I am starting to doubt the fireworks story.

Updated estimate is roughly 5000 birds and a state veterinarian tells NBC that preliminary necropsy results from several birds show that they died of "multiple blunt trauma to their vital organs," though what caused the trauma remains uncertain. According to Dr. George Badley, their stomachs were empty, so they weren't poisoned, and they died in midair, not upon impact with the ground.

runwithscissors: No mention of fireworks before.

? The original article on JT run a few days ago mentions fireworks:

The commission said that New Year’s Eve revelers shooting off fireworks in the area could have startled the birds from their roost and caused them to die from stress.

it was the fireworks, c'mon

No mention of fireworks before. How intelligent do you have to be to point out the other odd factors of the time? And no one said anything about fireworks? Come on, I doubt they do that every night.

If there were too many and they were a town nuisance, did anyone aim their fireworks directly into the trees where the blackbirds were nesting, I wonder?