WHOOOEEEE! MINDY SUE, WE'RE GONNA EAT LIKE KINGS TONIGHT!

[hooplala]

Read an article about this today... they said it was most likely fireworks. 

Seems to me Occam's Razor would agree that this is the easiest rational answer, given the time of year.

Sounds likely....only would the fireworks do damage consistent with the kind found in the birds?  From what I read, there were no external signs of injury, only internal....I guess it is possible, theoretically, that the burst of the fireworks could cause internal damage without external injuries, but I'd like to make sure.

Which means I'm off with a net and some surplus fireworks in an hour.

I should have been more clear.  The article said their guess was that fireworks had frightened and discombobulated the birds enough that they were smashing into buildings and one another.

[Cain]

Might've been a bigger firework display than normal/more powerful explosives etc

Also, weren't the blackbirds reported as flying at night?  And didn't the article say that was unusual for them?  Blackbirds dont usually get hit by fireworks because you don't launch fireworks during the day.  But if something were to have caused them to fly at this unusual time, it could explain the relative uniqueness of the event.

I'm going to need a bigger net.  And some natural predators.

[Cain]

Read an article about this today... they said it was most likely fireworks. 

Seems to me Occam's Razor would agree that this is the easiest rational answer, given the time of year.

Sounds likely....only would the fireworks do damage consistent with the kind found in the birds?  From what I read, there were no external signs of injury, only internal....I guess it is possible, theoretically, that the burst of the fireworks could cause internal damage without external injuries, but I'd like to make sure.

Which means I'm off with a net and some surplus fireworks in an hour.

I should have been more clear.  The article said their guess was that fireworks had frightened and discombobulated the birds enough that they were smashing into buildings and one another.

Ah, right.  Still, I would imagine that would've caused some external damage...but then again, maybe not.  At least, not detectable, so long as bones didn't break.  Vetinary surgeons and the like don't usually treat animals for bruising and contusions, so they may not have recognized the signs...also, such signs may have decayed by the time they were able to start investigating, and I've never heard of a forensic vetinary specialists, so maybe such signs just eluded them?

[hooplala]

Could be.  Personally, I would prefer to go with LMNO's theory... it's just weird shit.

[AFK]

Here's the real cause of all the birds falling out of the sky:

http://theclicker.todayshow.com/_news/2011/01/05/5769949-hurleys-numbers-pay-off-for-lost-fans

"Lost" fans got lucky in Tuesday's Mega Millions drawing. Those who played Hurley's sometimes cursed, sometimes lottery-winning numbers raked in a reward.

A small reward.

Only four of the six all-important numbers from the show rolled out of the Mega Millions barrels, so instead of winning the $355 million jackpot, or even matching Hurley's $114 million, loyal "Lost" fans holding tickets bearing the numbers 4, 8, 15, 16, 23 and 42 won just about enough to buy the series on DVD.

I can only imagine the cataclysmic carnage had all 6 numbers been matched. 

[Adios]

Might've been a bigger firework display than normal/more powerful explosives etc

Also, weren't the blackbirds reported as flying at night?  And didn't the article say that was unusual for them?  Blackbirds dont usually get hit by fireworks because you don't launch fireworks during the day.  But if something were to have caused them to fly at this unusual time, it could explain the relative uniqueness of the event.

I'm going to need a bigger net.  And some natural predators.

IMO the Louisiana incident disqualifies the explanation of fireworks.

[Fujikoma]

Has anyone else's pets been acting strangely?

[Adios]

Has anyone else's pets been acting strangely?

MINE QUIT POOMPING ON THE FLOOR!!!!!!

[The Good Reverend Roger]

The birds got blinded by the light reflecting off of Venus, and choked to death on swamp gas.

Nothing to see here, citizens.  Move along.

[Whatever]

The birds got blinded by the light reflecting off of Venus, and choked to death on swamp gas.

Nothing to see here, citizens.  Move along.

My absolute favorite reasoning for almost everything!!!

[The Good Reverend Roger]

Also, birds are prone to heart attacks when startled.

Maybe something scared them to death that night, right?  Maybe, just maybe, whatever it was will notice all the houses down below.

[Fujikoma]

[AFK]

ZOMG!!!  That guy in the back, it was him, and it looks like....Bernie Sanders!

It's the socialists I tell you!  Glenn Beck was right!

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Read an article about this today... they said it was most likely fireworks. 

Seems to me Occam's Razor would agree that this is the easiest rational answer, given the time of year.

The fireworks explanation seems more like "grasping in the dark" than "Occams razor". Not only that, but when you start to dissect it, it's outright preposterous.

Where is the evidence? Where is the precedent? Why is the "explanation" completely in defiance of normal bird behavior?

The birds started falling around 4 in the morning... who was setting off enormous fireworks at 4am?

Blackbirds are diurnal; why were they flying at night?

[hooplala]

Hmm... good point.

To be fair, I don't believe the article claimed they knew what happened, just offering a possibility.  I may have made it sound more definitive than I meant to, I don't recall my exact wording now.

How do they know the birds started falling at 4 am?

Also, was this the same state that the fish started going belly-up, and if so, were the two incidences near one another?