Birds Falling From the Sky Not Unusual

From bats to whales to bees to frogs, wildlife health experts say, major mortality events happen every year for reasons that include bad weather, disease outbreaks and poisonings. The main reason this recent spate of events seems so strange is that, most of the time, mass deaths occur in places where nobody notices them.

Dramatic die-offs are most common in animals that congregate or travel in large groups.

Migratory birds, for example, often become disoriented by fog or storms, causing them to run into towers, bridges, wind turbines and trees. On their long journeys, migratory birds may also accidentally ingest pesticides or even poisons that were left specifically for them. Weather can work against them, too, particularly if they migrate too soon in an unseasonably cold year.

Records kept by the United States Geological Survey list at least 16 die-offs of more than 1,000 blackbirds or starlings over the past 30 years, said Marisa Lubeck, a spokesperson for the USGS in Denver. But group deaths among animals have been going on for a lot longer than that.

In one of the most extreme examples, an estimated 1.5 million Lapland Longspurs died during a March 1904 storm in Minnesota and Iowa.

news.discovery.com...

I am posting this, knowing that it will be unpopular here on ATS...simply because it lacks any level of conspiracy. And I very well know that anything that goes against a conspiracy here on ATS is frowned upon by the masses and is thought of as propaganda by TPTB. However, These mass animal die-offs are not uncommon. What is uncommon is these recent events occurred in urban areas or other areas that are in view of the masses. Basically, there is nothing to worry about here. This is not the end of times. This is not due to HAARP. This is not due to a pending earthquake. This is not related to a government conspiracy to reduce populations. This IS nature. It's a sad fact of life. A vicious cycle that occurs from time to time. Nothing more.

Now, let the flaming begin.

reply to post by Aggie Man


Ok, so it's not as unusual as some think, but what about the magnetic pole shift?

Originally posted by youthsavior
reply to post by Aggie Man

 

Ok, so it's not as unusual as some think, but what about the magnetic pole shift?

What about it? the pole always migrates. It always has and always will. It has been moving towards Russia at about 40 miles per year (if I recall correctly).

Yea, BUT.

Obviously, this isn't just a normal common occurrence. Humans have been around here for quite a while and one thing humans are good at is noticing pattern. If it was normal for birds to drop like leaves off a tree in the fall then we'd have noticed it by now.

Lets see, I've heard Fireworks and then it was power lines. I also saw where A SINGLE semi truck taking out a flock was responsible. All of those excuses seem pretty desperate to me.

It's the same as blaming a UFO sighting on swamp gas. Throw out the excuse and stick to the story. A lie is a lie is a lie.

Originally posted by LazyGuy
Yea, BUT.

Obviously, this isn't just a normal common occurrence. Humans have been around here for quite a while and one thing humans are good at is noticing pattern. If it was normal for birds to drop like leaves off a tree in the fall then we'd have noticed it by now.

Certainly, it's not "normal", as it is not an everyday occurrence. However, in the broader sense it is common. Form the OP source:

In a review study published in 2007 in the journal Ibis, researchers looked through European and North American bird journals and other references dating back to the late 19th century. They found frequent reports of deaths of birds in the hundreds, thousands or more.

What caused those? Natural phenomenon.

reply to post by Aggie Man

Actually, it has recently been acting rather strangely

From:
www.scientificamerican.com...

"But the NMP drifts from year to year as geophysical processes within Earth change. For more than 150 years after Ross's measurement its movement was gradual, generally less than 15 kilometers per year. But then, in the 1990s, it picked up speed in a big way, bolting north–northwest into the Arctic Ocean at more than 55 kilometers per year. If it keeps going it could pass the geographic north pole in a decade or so and carry on toward Siberia. But why?"

As for the argument that mass bird die-offs are normal, maybe so, but I do not recall them happening around the world at the same time.

reply to post by Aggie Man


The timing is what sticks out to me. Why all of a sudden is it that as we nearer to 2012, all these bizarre things are happening, uncommon or not, they are definitely unusual and is not something that we see everyday. All of these events seem to line up with the multiple theories as to what is going to happen in 2012. Polar shifts, die off's, more and more UFO sightings... the list goes on. I feel like we are going to be seeing a lot more activity this year for sure.I am definitely worried.

Here is an interesting read on the 12 recorded bird kills in history.

www.wunderground.com...

This time, though, it is not just birds. Its fish and crabs too.

I can buy the whole thing of Mass dieoffs in the bird-realm due to the factors OP presented. However in all of the instances decribed in OP you wont see the birds falling in a radius of say 500ft. Picture this, a flock of birds is flying overhead and all of a sudden they simultaniously take a nosedive, landing in about the formation they were flying. Now try again to write their deaths off as the result of them hitting a building or flying into a storm. I can imagine a handfull of em would land in the same street but 1000's? Must have been a freakstorm.

I simply cant imagine how a storm or any other "natural phenomena" can make such an amount of birds drop so close to eachother.. And lets not forget that the only mentioned factors possibly in play were a truck and fireworks... there was no mention of bad weather or unusually low temperatures...

Originally posted by youthsavior
reply to post by Aggie Man

 

The timing is what sticks out to me. Why all of a sudden is it that as we nearer to 2012, all these bizarre things are happening, uncommon or not, they are definitely unusual and is not something that we see everyday. All of these events seem to line up with the multiple theories as to what is going to happen in 2012. Polar shifts, die off's, more and more UFO sightings... the list goes on. I feel like we are going to be seeing a lot more activity this year for sure.I am definitely worried.

Because things like this happen every year. 2012 is an arbitrary number, nothing more. Although I'm not going to take the time, I could single out any particular year and point to natural disasters and then say "this is freaking me out...as it nears the year xxxx I'm getting worried".

Now, if you believe in the 2012 hype, then it is your right to do so...I won't criticize that. However, the bottom line is that natural disasters occur yearly. We have had much worse disasters in years past long ago. Sure, they seem more frequent, but that is due to media hype, 24-hour news reporting and the technology that allows everyone on earth to video and become armchair reporters on incidents that previously went unnoticed or unreported. In many cases they are hoaxed or reported without a shred of empirical evidence to back their claims.

I love how people cry out how "normal" stuff is and ridicule others for being spooked by things,
citing study after study by "experts" decrying the "normality" of a thing...

However, when is the last time that you, personally, had birds drop from the sky in front of you?
When that happens to me, I will say, "Ok, it's normal."

(and I am not saying this to flame anyone in this thread or the OP, as I understand
they are just reporting what they have read)

Originally posted by Aggie Man

From bats to whales to bees to frogs, wildlife health experts say, major mortality events happen every year for reasons that include bad weather, disease outbreaks and poisonings. The main reason this recent spate of events seems so strange is that, most of the time, mass deaths occur in places where nobody notices them.

Dramatic die-offs are most common in animals that congregate or travel in large groups.

Migratory birds, for example, often become disoriented by fog or storms, causing them to run into towers, bridges, wind turbines and trees. On their long journeys, migratory birds may also accidentally ingest pesticides or even poisons that were left specifically for them. Weather can work against them, too, particularly if they migrate too soon in an unseasonably cold year.

Records kept by the United States Geological Survey list at least 16 die-offs of more than 1,000 blackbirds or starlings over the past 30 years, said Marisa Lubeck, a spokesperson for the USGS in Denver. But group deaths among animals have been going on for a lot longer than that.

In one of the most extreme examples, an estimated 1.5 million Lapland Longspurs died during a March 1904 storm in Minnesota and Iowa.

news.discovery.com...

I am posting this, knowing that it will be unpopular here on ATS...simply because it lacks any level of conspiracy. And I very well know that anything that goes against a conspiracy here on ATS is frowned upon by the masses and is thought of as propaganda by TPTB. However, These mass animal die-offs are not uncommon. What is uncommon is these recent events occurred in urban areas or other areas that are in view of the masses. Basically, there is nothing to worry about here. This is not the end of times. This is not due to HAARP. This is not due to a pending earthquake. This is not related to a government conspiracy to reduce populations. This IS nature. It's a sad fact of life. A vicious cycle that occurs from time to time. Nothing more.

Now, let the flaming begin.

edit on 6-1-2011 by Aggie Man because: (no reason given)

No flaming, even though your icon deserves it.
You and your sources are absolutely right, the large scale die off of wildlife is NOT unusual, it happens all the time. I would like you to do what I have already done and research this phenomenon, tell me how many times it has happened like this. How many times have thousands of birds died instantly and on the same spot?
How many historic die offs were due to illness, disease etc. This is unprecedented, it is historic, it is unusual and it commands respect.
Read it...
Expert says birds were in spin cycle too long!!,
I promise you, if the entire population of your city, town or village suddenly dies in an instant I will look into it, even when the MSM says it was a huge meth lab gone awry or a weather related tradgedy.
On the bright side you will be content and happy in your eternal state of denial up until about three minutes before you see the truth.

reply to post by Aggie Man


Good point and very true. Looking back at our history and things that have happened in the past, it is nothing necessarily to be alarmed about. But I can surely tell you, this is the first time in my years on this planet that I have felt greater sense of awareness. I wouldn't overlook these events. They could be key in an epic build up of the death of the modern world and the birth a futuristic space age, or bc/ac...

reply to post by Aggie Man


Wildlife Mortality Rates Nationwide

A friend of mine works for the National Wildlife Health Center. She sent me this link. She says that the media have been contacting them non-stop since the birds started falling. They don't keep records of the fish, just birds but she insists that these latest happenings are nothing out of the ordinary. Just putting this out there...

Originally posted by faceoff85
I simply cant imagine how a storm or any other "natural phenomena" can make such an amount of birds drop so close to eachother..

I understand your position. However, just because you cant imagine something doesn't mean it isn't a fact. I imagine you are not an ornithologist, a wildlife biologist, or have contributed to the study of mass animal die offs. I'm not being critical of you, I am merely pointing out that there are degreed scientists that have devoted their entire adult lives to study such things. They do not make rash decisions, rather, they spend many years collecting data, analyzing it and drawing fact based conclusions. I will take that over paranoia 7 days a week.

Another point I would like to make is that very little of the earth's landmass is urbanized, approximately 3%.

New data collection from CIESIN's Global Rural Urban Mapping Project shows that as much as three percent of the Earth’s land area has already been urbanized

www.earth.columbia.edu...

So, for any mass die-off that occurs, there is only a 3-percent chance that it will occur in an urbanized area. As the source of my OP points out, animal die-offs usually occur in sanctuaries and preserves; thus go unnoticed. Because the recent incidents have occurred in urban areas, there is suddenly a heightened awareness because of it's rarity in these areas.

reply to post by Aggie Man


My whole point is that aparantly even scientists are not readily providing a logical and proven reason for these specific die-offs wich have happened in the last week and a half. All they provide are some unlogical and farfetched statements wich just scream BS, and to top it off they cover their own as* by pointing out that it is a hypothesis.

Dont forget that birds dying in short time-span is not the only anomaly at present. Did you read about the newest one?

www.abovetopsecret.com...

Did you also read the statement of our so-called "proffesionals"? They come up with the same kind of answers lately.. I am almost insulted at how dumb the scientific community takes us for... on the other hand most of the sheeple really do take these explanations for true and dont give it another second of thought...

Originally posted by faceoff85
reply to post by Aggie Man

 

My whole point is that aparantly even scientists are not readily providing a logical and proven reason for these specific die-offs wich have happened in the last week and a half. All they provide are some unlogical and farfetched statements wich just scream BS, and to top it off they cover their own as* by pointing out that it is a hypothesis.

A random scientists here or there giving an opinion or hypothesis is not all inclusive of the scientific community. Nor is the expectation, from the general public, that scientists have an immediate answer rational. What is rational is for scientists to collect evidence and data, analyze, scrutinize and form an educated hypothesis based upon the research. It's a lengthy process.

What I find deplorable is the random scientist spouting an opinion to the media without doing due diligence in their research. Who can blame them though? I mean, the media wants answers and there is always some poor sucker that want's their 15-minutes of fame in front of a news camera. That is not science, rather opinion and speculation.

EDIT: I did read about the crabs. It was apparently related to weather. The crabs died of hypothermia. Again, natural phenomenon. Cold weather happens and sometimes animals die. Same could be said for heatwaves, droughts and other extreme scenarios.

reply to post by Aggie Man


Crabs dying of hypothermia? You mean the same crabs as the ones in the article right? The ones that even make their habitat at the norwegian coast? You do realize that the average winters in Norway are as harsh if not harsher when compared to the winter the UK experienced this year right? Norway to my knowledge has never reported anything like what happened in the UK.. logically if those crabs were sensitive to extreme cold, Norway would be reporting on this on a yearly basis. And the quoted article from the UK would have referenced this if it were aplicable.
I can understand it if you simply dont want to wrap your mind around this and rather accept a statement from a renowned scientific community but if it stinks it stinks...
And all these mass-dying of animals all over the world creates a solid picture comparable to the bird in a coalmine. When the bird dies, the humans would do wise to take heed...

The only thing about this time is we have the internet to report it all but that doesn't make it unusual. ATS wild headlines are giving death a life of it's own