Tech | January 01, 2012 | 44 comments

Bizarre Mass Bird Deaths In Arkansas New Years 2011...It Happened Again New Years 2012

source: http://hisz.rsoe.hu/alertmap/site/?pageid=event_desc&edis_id=BH-20120101-33599-USA

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circlesquared
Biological Hazard in USA on Sunday, 01 January, 2011 at 07:06 (07:06 AM) UTC.
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Thousands of dead blackbirds rained down on a town in central Arkansas last New Year’s Eve after revelers set off fireworks that spooked them from their roost, and officials were reporting a similar occurrence Saturday as 2012 approached. Police in Beebe said dozens of blackbirds had fallen dead, prompting officers to ban residents from shooting fireworks Saturday night. It wasn’t immediately clear if fireworks were again to blame, but authorities weren’t taking a chance. Officer John Weeks said the first reports of “birds on the streets” came around 7 p.m. as residents celebrated the year’s end with fireworks in their neighborhoods. “We started shutting down fireworks,” he said. “We’re working on cleaning up the birds now.” He said police were working with animal control workers and others to remove the birds and determine a death count. “We’re not sure if they’re going to continue to fall throughout the night. I can’t tell you,” Weeks said. Scientists say the loud cracks and booms from celebratory fireworks likely sent the birds into such a tizzy that they crashed into homes, cars and each other before plummeting to their deaths last New Year’s Eve. The birds landed on roofs, sidewalks, streets and fields. One struck a woman walking her dog. Another hit a police cruiser.

The blackbird die-off, coupled with tens of thousands of dead drum fish that washed up on the shores of the Arkansas River, flung the state into the national headlines and drew conspiracy theorists and filmmakers to the town about 30 miles northeast of Little Rock that shares Arkansas Gov. Mike Beebe’s last name. Some people speculated that the birds had been poisoned; others said their deaths marked the beginning of the apocalypse. “It’s just got to be a pain in my career,” Beebe Police Chief Wayne Ballew said. Prior to this New Year’s Eve, Ballew said he wouldn’t be surprised if people sit out on their front porches in case the winged creatures fall from the sky again. “I guess we could have an annual blackbird watch,” he said with a laugh. “People can just bring their umbrellas, open them up and walk through the neighborhood and hope they don’t get hit.” Charles Moore didn’t plan to have an umbrella at the ready, but said he would have his camera out on New Year’s Eve. Last year, he drifted off to sleep before the ball - and birds - dropped. “When we got up on New Year’s Day and walked out to get the paper, we saw all the carnage out there,” he said. “So we thought we would be on the watch for it this time.”
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44 comments // Bizarre Mass Bird Deaths In Arkansas New Years 2011...It Happened Again New Years 2012

  • sbasscase
    • 0
      sbasscase  

    • "In the 1960′s the USDA established a program referred to as the Bye Bye Blackbird program. This program is solely responsible for the mass killings of what could ultimately be millions of birds across the nation. In 2009 alone the USDA poisoned and killed over 4 million birds. The documents state whether or not the deaths were intentional or unintentional on the government website. You can find extremely large numbers, such as 22,276 blackbirds marked as intentionally euthanized."

      http://www.aphis.usda.gov/wildlife_damage/prog_data/2009_prog_data/PDR_G_FY09/Ba...

    • 5 months ago
  • percipi224
  • covelogibbs
  • freehit
    • -2
      freehit  

    • We firework peoples of China wish to say so sorry for bird problem. Han Go Boom sent wrong pakage of special firework to your lovely city by mistake. Package of magic sky wall rocket bang were mixed in with normal blossom rocket package. Han Go Boom been moved to special place where mistake will happen no more. If any people have package of unused magic sky wall rocket bang at home, please return to military here or embassy there for full refunding of monies spending. We must be repeating: Do not use magic sky wall rocket bang around birds aircraft or missles as hazzardous may be occuring. Many thanks and enjoy last year on Earth just celebrated.

    • 5 months ago
  • nikonwilly
    • +1
      nikonwilly  

    • The media propaganda explanation is always bogus , but notice how it's now become much more dumb down and illogical....they truly think we will believe everything they say as fact.
      Has there been any independent tests done on these birds? While their reasoning has remote possibilities with the timing and circumstance ..it's the timing and circumstance that raise the suspicion! Why this location and only on New Years eve ? Coincidence ? unlikely.

    • 5 months ago
  • sugarmountian
    • +2
      sugarmountian  

    • They say the birds were in a tissy after being disturbed by fireworks?? What about the fish?Did they panic and swim into each other? Give me a break. There has to be more to it than fireworks.

    • 5 months ago
  • Andover
  • Leen61
    • +3
      Leen61  

    • Something is obviously being released into the atmosphere that are killing these birds. This is not a natural phenomenon. These mass bird deaths are no coincidence.

    • 5 months ago
  • Anonmaly
  • EthicalVegan
  • EthicalVegan
    • +3
      EthicalVegan  
    • Image

    • And from ABC News, Some Videos...

      http://abcnews.go.com/US/dead-blackbirds-fall-sky-beebe-arkansas-years-eve/story....TwDVfeRjFaw

      .

      Dead Blackbirds Fall From the Sky Again in Beebe, Arkansas, on New Year's Eve

      PHOTO: Dead Blackbirds Fall Again in Ark. Town

      Blackbirds Fall Out of the Sky in Arkansas

      .
      By ERIN McLAUGHLIN
      Jan. 1, 2012

      .

      Dozens of dead blackbirds have fallen from the sky over a small Arkansas town for the second year in a row.

      That the town of Beebe has seen this before, however, doesn't make the deaths of dozens of birds any less odd -- maybe even more so.

      ABC Arkansas affiliate KATV reported that a radar image showed a large mass over Beebe a few hours before midnight Saturday. Then the birds began falling from the sky, just like last year.

      Emily Nichols, a police dispatcher in Beebe, told ABC Radio that she received multiple calls. "Just that blackbirds are falling again and that they found black birds on their streets where they live or at churches," Nichols said.

      Animal Care and Control was called out at about 7 p.m., a few hours earlier than last year, Horace Taylor of Animal Care and Control in Beebe told ABC Radio.

      "Well, there was just birds falling down on the street and people dodging and missing them," Taylor said. "And we were down the street picking them up. We got called out by the chief and we all [came] out trying to pick them off the street."

      Taylor added that the Game and Fish Department took about 30 of the nearly 100 birds for testing to try to determine what happened.

      Fireworks were blamed for the deaths of thousands of blackbirds last year, but it's unclear whether fireworks were the cause this time. Police imposed an impromptu ban on fireworks when the birds began falling this year.

      Lt. Brian Duke of the Beebe Police Department told ABC this year wasn't nearly as bad as last year, when the birds covered the streets of Beebe. This year, they were concentrated in a smaller area and the birds were cleaned up quickly. There haven't been any reports of people being hit by a falling bird.

      Biologists said last year's kill was caused by birds who were spooked off their roosts by the loud explosions and began flying into homes, cars, telephone poles and each other.

      Around this same time last year, thousands of dead fish also turned up in the Arkansas River, prompting conspiracies about the end of the world, poison and environmental catastrophe.

      Taylor and Duke both agree, though: it's probably just the fireworks in Beebe.

      .

      ABC News Radio and the Associated Press contributed to this report.

      .

      video platformvideo managementvideo solutionsvideo player

    • 5 months ago
  • EthicalVegan
    • +2
      EthicalVegan  
    • EthicalVegan:

      http://www.npr.org/2012/01/01/144549312/dead-blackbirds-fall-in-arkansas-town-ag...

      NPR...

      .

      Dead Blackbirds Fall In Arkansas Town, Again

      by The Associated Press

      January 1, 2012

      Thousands of dead blackbirds rained down on a town in central Arkansas last New Year's Eve after revelers set off fireworks that spooked them from their roost, and officials were reporting a similar occurrence Saturday as 2012 approached.

      Police in Beebe said dozens of blackbirds had fallen dead, prompting officers to ban residents from shooting fireworks Saturday night. It wasn't immediately clear if fireworks were again to blame, but authorities weren't taking a chance.

      Officer John Weeks said the first reports of "birds on the streets" came around 7 p.m. as residents celebrated the year's end with fireworks in their neighborhoods.

      "We started shutting down fireworks," he said. "We're working on cleaning up the birds now."

      He said police were working with animal control workers and others to remove the birds and determine a death count.

      "We're not sure if they're going to continue to fall throughout the night. I can't tell you," Weeks said.

      Scientists say the loud cracks and booms from celebratory fireworks likely sent the birds into such a tizzy that they crashed into homes, cars and each other before plummeting to their deaths last New Year's Eve. The birds landed on roofs, sidewalks, streets and fields. One struck a woman walking her dog. Another hit a police cruiser.

      The blackbird die-off, coupled with tens of thousands of dead drum fish that washed up on the shores of the Arkansas River, flung the state into the national headlines and drew conspiracy theorists and filmmakers to the town about 30 miles northeast of Little Rock that shares Arkansas Gov. Mike Beebe's last name.

      Some people speculated that the birds had been poisoned; others said their deaths marked the beginning of the apocalypse.

      "It's just got to be a pain in my career," Beebe Police Chief Wayne Ballew said.

      Prior to this New Year's Eve, Ballew said he wouldn't be surprised if people sit out on their front porches in case the winged creatures fall from the sky again.

      "I guess we could have an annual blackbird watch," he said with a laugh. "People can just bring their umbrellas, open them up and walk through the neighborhood and hope they don't get hit."

      Charles Moore didn't plan to have an umbrella at the ready, but said he would have his camera out on New Year's Eve. Last year, he drifted off to sleep before the ball — and birds — dropped.

      "When we got up on New Year's Day and walked out to get the paper, we saw all the carnage out there," he said. "So we thought we would be on the watch for it this time."

      ___

      .

    • 5 months ago
  • EthicalVegan
    • +2
      EthicalVegan  

    • Here's CNN's report:

      http://www.cnn.com/2012/01/01/us/arkansas-bird-deaths/index.html?hpt=hp_t3

      Dozens of birds found dead in Arkansas town for second straight New Year's Eve

      By the CNN Wire Staff
      updated 4:12 PM EST, Sun January 1, 2012

      .
      STORY HIGHLIGHTS

      The birds were apparently startled by fireworks, a game official says
      Tests will be conducted to determine a cause of death
      About 5,000 birds were found dead in the same town last New Year's Eve

      .

      (CNN) -- For the second year in a row, dozens of blackbirds died overnight Saturday in Beebe, Arkansas, apparently after being startled by New Year's Eve fireworks, an official with the state's Game and Fish Commission said Sunday.

      Tests will be conducted to determine the official cause of death, said Ginny Porter with the Arkansas Game and Fish commission. Porter said between 50 and 80 birds were reported dead.

      Beebe, about 40 miles northeast of Little Rock, is an area through which the birds migrate and is home to a large roost. The fireworks set off Saturday were located near the south side of the roost, according to Porter. Blackbirds have poor night vision and do not typically fly at night, according to the game commission.

      A much larger birdkill was reported in Beebe last New Year's Eve when about 5,000 birds were found dead in a square-mile area. The cause of death was determined to be blunt force trauma after the otherwise-healthy birds became disoriented and flew into stationary objects such as trees and buildings.

      .

      CNN's Kara Devlin contributed to this report.

      .

    • 5 months ago
  • EmperorThan
  • EthicalVegan
  • circlesquared
  • JanforGore
  • JanforGore
  • jimstoner
    • 0
      jimstoner  
    • JanforGore:

      Why would something like this be unique to Beebe Arkansas? Is this the only time of year the residents of Beebe set of fireworks? Does it have something to do with when the birds are migrating?

    • 5 months ago
  • JanforGore
    • +1
      JanforGore  
    • jimstoner:

      All good questions. I wish I knew. Could be where they migrate this time of year is now toxified with something. It is certainly worth investigating. And if it is fireworks then you would think the people there would be smart and considerate enough to stop doing it on New Years Eve knowing what it does. But honestly, that doesn't seem plausible.

    • 5 months ago
  • MikeBallantine2012
    • +1
      MikeBallantine2012  
    • JanforGore:

      Last year, I was trying to work through a solar flare theory that as the plasma hit our magnetosphere that it overcharged the magnetic lines causing a localized a change in the ionization of the atmosphere causing an ozone burst that would damage the birds and remove the oxygen from the water causing the fish to drown. It was just a theory but I have been too busy to extend it. Probably hogwash but there was a very large earthquake in Japan at the same time which ties into the theory that large plasma bursts can disrupt the magnetic fields causing nasty little problems.

    • 5 months ago
  • moodyblue
  • coolplanet
  • EthicalVegan
  • Scott_Pert
  • remanns
  • circlesquared
  • EmperorThan
  • MotherForTruth
  • circlesquared
    • +5
      circlesquared  
    • MotherForTruth:

      could be relevant to the chemicals and heavy metals that are sprayed into the air, or maybe the broad range of constantly changing frequencies we are wrapping our world in, or maybe the Earth is going through a more drastic change than we realize and are being told about and we are seeing the affects on the "canaries" of our home.

    • 5 months ago
  • KB723
  • circlesquared
  • KB723
  • circlesquared
  • KB723
  • EmperorThan
    • +1
      EmperorThan  
    • circlesquared:

      Only one problem with that theory. What did they run into while disoriented??? The video I saw last year of the mass bird deaths showed them WAY out in yards away from anything.

      Did thousands of walls magically appear in mid-air everywhere?

    • 5 months ago
  • attilatheblond
  • circlesquared
    • +1
      circlesquared  
    • EmperorThan:

      hiding truth? they wouldn't do that would they? I would rather believe fireworks killed 5000 birds at the same time in the same place two years in a row, than consider any other implications or facts...I'm gonna go watch TV...(all sarcasm just to be clear)

    • 5 months ago
  • circlesquared
    • 0
      circlesquared  
    • attilatheblond:

      the sub surface sonic system they started using about a decade ago has definitely impacted the ocean dwelling creatures, but the frequency bursts, both high and low, that resonate from the "dopplar" sites must have an impact on the wildlife caught in those EM pulses in a severe way...imagine a small bird heart being hit with the worlds largest defibrillator..

    • 5 months ago
  • circlesquared
  • attilatheblond
    • +4
      attilatheblond  
    • circlesquared:

      Used to live within a few hundred yards of a sports club that set off a monster fireworks show every July 4th. We had BIG, mature trees in the 'hood and LOTS of birds, ranging from hummers to turkey buzzards. NEVER did we have a bunch of dead birds from all the noise every year.

      NEVER.

    • 5 months ago
  • circlesquared
  • EmperorThan
    • +3
      EmperorThan  
    • attilatheblond:

      Thank you!

      If this bullshit was true then Oklahoma wouldn't have any birds left. Rednecks here fire off massive fireworks all the time and not once have I ever seen even a single bird fall to the ground dead because of it.

    • 5 months ago
  • attilatheblond
    • +2
      attilatheblond  
    • circlesquared:

      Pretty much what I think too. Why in some places and not all places where fireworks go off? It's a cover story for something else.

      I do know there are viruses birds succumb to, and massive die-offs in many places. But I have observed, up close, personal, and year after year, that fireworks don't seem to do it.

    • 5 months ago
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