National Geographic’s Daily News is bringing some much-needed context to the bird deaths in Arkansas.
After I started following reports of the mass New Year’s Eve red-winged blackbird deaths near Beebe, I started seeing that there are reports of bird deaths – albeit not always 4,000-5,000 dramatically falling to their deaths in a populated area – all over the country on a pretty regular basis.
Indeed, according to National Geographic, “in-air bird deaths aren’t due to some apocalyptic plague or insidious experiment—they happen all the time.”
So why the alarm this time? National Geographic blames “media buzz.” I’m sure that’s part of it. More context in reporting from scientists explaining the frequency of these events would have been helpful and likely tempered some of the conspiracy theories.
But with the timing and location – New Year’s Eve and in a well populated area – there was bound to buzz and concern. Healthy birds reflect a healthy environment, or at least I think that’s what many people believe. En masse deaths are rightly investigated.
I remember a few years ago that dead blackbirds in my neighborhood turned out to be a sign that West Nile Virus was now present.
That said, preliminary tests of the Arkansas birds show what scientists speculated in the very first news reports: that the birds died from blunt-force trauma, likely from being scared out of their roosts by fireworks and slamming full force into cars, trees and buildings.
Wildlife officials are rightly using this high-profile event to educate the public, not only about bird deaths, but about how man-made structures, especially constantly lit cell towers can disorient birds and contribute to mass deaths.
As ornithologist Karen Rowe of the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission told National Geographic: “How many migratory warblers do you want to kill just to get better cell phone reception?”
Virtual Farmgirl 