date:20110103

RE: [nfc-l] nocturnal blackbird fatalities in Arkansas

2011-01-03 Thread Rob Fergus


I think y'all are looking in the wrong place for your answer.  I think I've 
figured out the source of the bird kill here:http://tinyurl.com/32gkv34 
Happy New Year, y'all!

Rob Fergus 

Perkasie, Bucks, Pennsylvania

http://birdchaser.blogspot.com




From: k...@cornell.edu
To: wrev...@clarityconnect.com; erin.macc...@smail.astate.edu
CC: nfc-l@cornell.edu
Date: Mon, 3 Jan 2011 13:38:30 -0500
Subject: RE: [nfc-l] nocturnal blackbird fatalities in Arkansas



I’m curious about the timing.  Did it happen all at once or over an hour?   
From the video it seems the birds were well spaced out over the residential 
area, so tower or even tree collision seems unlikely. As Bill points out, those 
birds shouldn’t have been in the air during the night, so I’d have to conclude 
that there are two parts to the story: what spooked them out of a roost, and 
what actually killed them. Cause of death should be pretty straightforward 
after looking inside a few birds, if they died of lightening or collision.  The 
Common Grackle the reporter interviewed on the video showed symptoms that could 
be the result of either poisoning or head trauma (not sure about lightening).  
The pox on the face probably had nothing to do with anything. I have been 
fielding calls today, and mostly people want to know if this is unusual.  I 
have been telling them that, no, this is an extremely common End of Days thing. 
Kevin  Kevin J. McGowanInstructorHome Study Course in Bird BiologyCornell Lab 
of Ornithology159 Sapsucker Woods RoadIthaca, NY 
14850hst...@cornell.edu607-254-2452 From: 
bounce-7635627-10073...@list.cornell.edu 
[mailto:bounce-7635627-10073...@list.cornell.edu] On Behalf Of Bill Evans
Sent: Monday, January 03, 2011 1:22 PM
To: Erin Macchia
Cc: nfc-l@cornell.edu
Subject: Re: [nfc-l] nocturnal blackbird fatalities in Arkansas Erin and all, 
The video linked below shows part of the kill site as a residential area, which 
doesn't suggest towers were involved.  
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G5P-ay2qaPI&feature=related The three species of 
blackbirds involved in the kill do not typically partake in nocturnal flight, 
so this strongly suggests that something spooked the flock to flight -- perhaps 
fireworks or lightning. The Little Rock NEXRAD does show some small 
thunderstorm activity in the Beebe area around the time the birds were seen 
falling (circa 10:30PM according to guy on the video). Whether lightning or 
fireworks caused them to take flight, the lights of the residential area 
nearest the roost may have been their easiest cue for the birds to try to 
maintain orientation in nocturnal flight -- resulting in a dense aggregation of 
blackbirds in mixed direction flight and associated collisions. By the way, 
there are some pretty bizarre youtube videos out there on this bird kill. I 
personally don't think the event had anything to do with the end times or is 
punishment from above for all the Ivory-billed burgers Arkansonians have cooked 
over the years. ;) Bill E   - Original Message - From: Erin Macchia To: 
Bill Evans Cc: nfc-l@cornell.edu Sent: Monday, January 03, 2011 11:55 
AMSubject: Re: [nfc-l] nocturnal blackbird fatalities in Arkansas Beebe, AR is 
a good-sized city, relative to most communities in northeast Arkansas.  There 
is a large, well-lit water tower just to the west of Highway 67, which I 
thought might have contributed to the fatalities.  However, a Little Rock news 
broadcast available on YouTube names Windwood Drive as within the area affected 
(estimated 1-mile square), and this is due east of the water tower on the other 
side of the highway.As a researcher investigating avian collisions at 
communication towers, I did a quick search and found seven towers within five 
miles of Windwood Dr.  The towers range from 63 to 107 meters.  Two have white 
lighting systems, and the remaining have dual lighting systems which employ red 
lights at night.  I can't be sure which of these towers have supporting guy 
wires, but I think it's a safe bet that the two towers exceeding 100m in height 
are probably guyed structures.  It would be interesting to know if any towers 
were in the area in which birds were recovered, and if more birds were found 
near these structures than elsewhere in the area where birds were collected. 
-Erin-- 
Erin Tighe Macchia, PhD Candidate
Graduate Program in Environmental Sciences
Arkansas State University
P.O. Box 599
State University, AR 72467
870-275-8480
erin.macc...@smail.astate.edu  
http://evs.astate.edu/macchia 
--

NFC-L List Info:
http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_WELCOME
http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_RULES

ARCHIVES:
1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nfc-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html
2) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NFCL.html
3) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NFC-L

Please submit your observations to eBird:
http://ebird.org/content/ebird/

--

Re: [nfc-l] nocturnal blackbird fatalities in Arkansas

2011-01-03 Thread Laura Erickson

There was a large fish kill reported in Arkansas this weekend, too, but it
was almost definitely too far away from the bird kill to be related--but
I've been getting questions about that, too. People sure are superstitious,
though. Look at the lede in this article.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_thelookout/20110103/ts_yblog_thelookout/massive-bird-fish-kills-in-arkansas-leave-many-scratching-heads

Laura Erickson
-- 
-- 
Laura Erickson

For the love, understanding, and protection of birds

There is symbolic as well as actual beauty in the migration of birds.  There
is something infinitely healing in the repeated refrains of nature--the
assurance that dawn comes after night, and spring after the winter.

--Rachel Carson

Please consider the environment before printing this e-mail.

--

NFC-L List Info:
http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_WELCOME
http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_RULES

ARCHIVES:
1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nfc-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html
2) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NFCL.html
3) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NFC-L

Please submit your observations to eBird:
http://ebird.org/content/ebird/

--

RE: [nfc-l] nocturnal blackbird fatalities in Arkansas

2011-01-03 Thread Kevin J. McGowan

I'm curious about the timing.  Did it happen all at once or over an hour?

>From the video it seems the birds were well spaced out over the residential 
>area, so tower or even tree collision seems unlikely.

As Bill points out, those birds shouldn't have been in the air during the 
night, so I'd have to conclude that there are two parts to the story: what 
spooked them out of a roost, and what actually killed them.

Cause of death should be pretty straightforward after looking inside a few 
birds, if they died of lightening or collision.  The Common Grackle the 
reporter interviewed on the video showed symptoms that could be the result of 
either poisoning or head trauma (not sure about lightening).  The pox on the 
face probably had nothing to do with anything.

I have been fielding calls today, and mostly people want to know if this is 
unusual.  I have been telling them that, no, this is an extremely common End of 
Days thing.

Kevin


Kevin J. McGowan
Instructor
Home Study Course in Bird Biology
Cornell Lab of Ornithology
159 Sapsucker Woods Road
Ithaca, NY 14850
hst...@cornell.edu
607-254-2452

From: bounce-7635627-10073...@list.cornell.edu 
[mailto:bounce-7635627-10073...@list.cornell.edu] On Behalf Of Bill Evans
Sent: Monday, January 03, 2011 1:22 PM
To: Erin Macchia
Cc: nfc-l@cornell.edu
Subject: Re: [nfc-l] nocturnal blackbird fatalities in Arkansas

Erin and all,

The video linked below shows part of the kill site as a residential area, which 
doesn't suggest towers were involved.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G5P-ay2qaPI&feature=related

The three species of blackbirds involved in the kill do not typically partake 
in nocturnal flight, so this strongly suggests that something spooked the flock 
to flight -- perhaps fireworks or lightning. The Little Rock NEXRAD does show 
some small thunderstorm activity in the Beebe area around the time the birds 
were seen falling (circa 10:30PM according to guy on the video). Whether 
lightning or fireworks caused them to take flight, the lights of the 
residential area nearest the roost may have been their easiest cue for the 
birds to try to maintain orientation in nocturnal flight -- resulting in a 
dense aggregation of blackbirds in mixed direction flight and associated 
collisions.

By the way, there are some pretty bizarre youtube videos out there on this bird 
kill. I personally don't think the event had anything to do with the end times 
or is punishment from above for all the Ivory-billed burgers Arkansonians have 
cooked over the years. ;)

Bill E


- Original Message -
From: Erin Macchia
To: Bill Evans
Cc: nfc-l@cornell.edu
Sent: Monday, January 03, 2011 11:55 AM
Subject: Re: [nfc-l] nocturnal blackbird fatalities in Arkansas

Beebe, AR is a good-sized city, relative to most communities in northeast 
Arkansas.  There is a large, well-lit water tower just to the west of Highway 
67, which I thought might have contributed to the fatalities.  However, a 
Little Rock news broadcast available on YouTube names Windwood Drive as within 
the area affected (estimated 1-mile square), and this is due east of the water 
tower on the other side of the highway.

As a researcher investigating avian collisions at communication towers, I did a 
quick search and found seven towers within five miles of Windwood Dr.  The 
towers range from 63 to 107 meters.  Two have white lighting systems, and the 
remaining have dual lighting systems which employ red lights at night.  I can't 
be sure which of these towers have supporting guy wires, but I think it's a 
safe bet that the two towers exceeding 100m in height are probably guyed 
structures.  It would be interesting to know if any towers were in the area in 
which birds were recovered, and if more birds were found near these structures 
than elsewhere in the area where birds were collected.

-Erin
--
Erin Tighe Macchia, PhD Candidate
Graduate Program in Environmental Sciences
Arkansas State University
P.O. Box 599
State University, AR 72467
870-275-8480
erin.macc...@smail.astate.edu
http://evs.astate.edu/macchia

--

NFC-L List Info:
http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_WELCOME
http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_RULES

ARCHIVES:
1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nfc-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html
2) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NFCL.html
3) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NFC-L

Please submit your observations to eBird:
http://ebird.org/content/ebird/

--

Re: [nfc-l] nocturnal blackbird fatalities in Arkansas

2011-01-03 Thread Bill Evans

Erin and all,

The video linked below shows part of the kill site as a residential area, which 
doesn't suggest towers were involved. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G5P-ay2qaPI&feature=related

The three species of blackbirds involved in the kill do not typically partake 
in nocturnal flight, so this strongly suggests that something spooked the flock 
to flight -- perhaps fireworks or lightning. The Little Rock NEXRAD does show 
some small thunderstorm activity in the Beebe area around the time the birds 
were seen falling (circa 10:30PM according to guy on the video). Whether 
lightning or fireworks caused them to take flight, the lights of the 
residential area nearest the roost may have been their easiest cue for the 
birds to try to maintain orientation in nocturnal flight -- resulting in a 
dense aggregation of blackbirds in mixed direction flight and associated 
collisions.

By the way, there are some pretty bizarre youtube videos out there on this bird 
kill. I personally don't think the event had anything to do with the end times 
or is punishment from above for all the Ivory-billed burgers Arkansonians have 
cooked over the years. ;)

Bill E 


  - Original Message - 
  From: Erin Macchia 
  To: Bill Evans 
  Cc: nfc-l@cornell.edu 
  Sent: Monday, January 03, 2011 11:55 AM
  Subject: Re: [nfc-l] nocturnal blackbird fatalities in Arkansas


  Beebe, AR is a good-sized city, relative to most communities in northeast 
Arkansas.  There is a large, well-lit water tower just to the west of Highway 
67, which I thought might have contributed to the fatalities.  However, a 
Little Rock news broadcast available on YouTube names Windwood Drive as within 
the area affected (estimated 1-mile square), and this is due east of the water 
tower on the other side of the highway.  


  As a researcher investigating avian collisions at communication towers, I did 
a quick search and found seven towers within five miles of Windwood Dr.  The 
towers range from 63 to 107 meters.  Two have white lighting systems, and the 
remaining have dual lighting systems which employ red lights at night.  I can't 
be sure which of these towers have supporting guy wires, but I think it's a 
safe bet that the two towers exceeding 100m in height are probably guyed 
structures.  It would be interesting to know if any towers were in the area in 
which birds were recovered, and if more birds were found near these structures 
than elsewhere in the area where birds were collected.


  -Erin
  -- 
  Erin Tighe Macchia, PhD Candidate
  Graduate Program in Environmental Sciences
  Arkansas State University
  P.O. Box 599
  State University, AR 72467
  870-275-8480
  erin.macc...@smail.astate.edu  
  http://evs.astate.edu/macchia
--

NFC-L List Info:
http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_WELCOME
http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_RULES

ARCHIVES:
1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nfc-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html
2) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NFCL.html
3) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NFC-L

Please submit your observations to eBird:
http://ebird.org/content/ebird/

--

Re: [nfc-l] nocturnal blackbird fatalities in Arkansas

2011-01-03 Thread Erin Macchia

Beebe, AR is a good-sized city, relative to most communities in northeast
Arkansas.  There is a large, well-lit water tower just to the west of
Highway 67, which I thought might have contributed to the fatalities.
 However, a Little Rock news broadcast available on YouTube names Windwood
Drive as within the area affected (estimated 1-mile square), and this is due
east of the water tower on the other side of the highway.

As a researcher investigating avian collisions at communication towers, I
did a quick search and found seven towers within five miles of Windwood Dr.
 The towers range from 63 to 107 meters.  Two have white lighting systems,
and the remaining have dual lighting systems which employ red lights at
night.  I can't be sure which of these towers have supporting guy wires, but
I think it's a safe bet that the two towers exceeding 100m in height are
probably guyed structures.  It would be interesting to know if any towers
were in the area in which birds were recovered, and if more birds were found
near these structures than elsewhere in the area where birds were collected.

-Erin
-- 
Erin Tighe Macchia, PhD Candidate
Graduate Program in Environmental Sciences
Arkansas State University
P.O. Box 599
State University, AR 72467
870-275-8480
erin.macc...@smail.astate.edu
http://evs.astate.edu/macchia

--

NFC-L List Info:
http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_WELCOME
http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_RULES

ARCHIVES:
1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nfc-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html
2) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NFCL.html
3) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NFC-L

Please submit your observations to eBird:
http://ebird.org/content/ebird/

--

Re: [nfc-l] nocturnal blackbird fatalities in Arkansas

2011-01-03 Thread Bill Evans

That's my guess too Dave -- birds colliding with birds in the dark of the 
night. I think the tight orderly flight that flocks of redwings maintain during 
the day is at least partially sight dependent. I'm not aware of any evidence 
that blackbirds (e.g., Bobolinks) fly in tight flocks at night.  If a dense 
night roost gets spooked there's likely to be birds flying in every direction 
and mid-air collisions would seem unavoidable, perhaps especially so for 
dark-colored birds. 

But the weird thing is that no dead birds were found at the roost site. Why 
wouldn't collisions have occurred there as well? Perhaps it took more time for 
the different directions of flight to maximize. Maybe a chunk of the flock 
started to return to the roost while another chunk was still moving away and 
these two streams collided?

Quick check of the weather for Beebe, AR on the night of Dec 31 indicates 100% 
overcast and NW winds about 10 mph -- a cold front had passed earlier in the 
day. Would be interesting to know what the artificial light situation is in 
Beebe.

Regarding Christian's idea of potential ear damage, hopefully the 
pathologist(s) will assess this possibility in their analysis.

Bill Evans




- Original Message - 
  From: Dave Slager 
  To: nfc-l@cornell.edu 
  Sent: Sunday, January 02, 2011 7:43 PM
  Subject: [nfc-l] nocturnal blackbird fatalities in Arkansas


  http://www.cnn.com/2011/US/01/02/arkansas.falling.birds/index.html

  I would guess a very large blackbird flock got spooked during the night, 
causing birds to collide with each other in mid-air above this town.  Any other 
ideas?

  Dave Slager
  Graduate Student
  Terrestrial Wildlife Ecology Lab
  School of Environment and Natural Resources
  The Ohio State University
  210 Kottman Hall, 2021 Coffey Road
  Columbus, OH 43210-1085
  slage...@osu.edu

--

NFC-L List Info:
http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_WELCOME
http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_RULES

ARCHIVES:
1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nfc-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html
2) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NFCL.html
3) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NFC-L

Please submit your observations to eBird:
http://ebird.org/content/ebird/

--

RE: [nfc-l] nocturnal blackbird fatalities in Arkansas

Re: [nfc-l] nocturnal blackbird fatalities in Arkansas

RE: [nfc-l] nocturnal blackbird fatalities in Arkansas

Re: [nfc-l] nocturnal blackbird fatalities in Arkansas

Re: [nfc-l] nocturnal blackbird fatalities in Arkansas

Re: [nfc-l] nocturnal blackbird fatalities in Arkansas

6 matches

Site Navigation

Mail list logo

Footer information