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

[the last yatto]

Clowns using magnets is the best theory so far

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

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.

This is my favorite theory so far.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

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?

Eyewitnesses noticed them falling. That must have been the creepiest thing EVER.

Nobody knows exactly what time the fish died, but it was about 100 miles away.

[themenniss]

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

Nobody knows exactly what time the fish died, but it was about 100 miles away.

THEY'RE TOTALLY LINKED! 

[Cain]

PLAUSIBLE EXPLANATION DISCOVERED

[Concerning the Son of Heaven]

If at the beginning of spring you issue summer ordinances, then wind and rain will be untimely, grass and trees will early wither, and there will be great fear in the capital.
If you issue autumn ordinances, then there will be great epidemics among the people, strong winds and thunderstorms will come intermittently, briars, darnel, brambles, and wormwood will grow together with the crops. If you carry out winter ordinances, floods and heavy rains will be devastating, frost and snow greatly damaging, and the crops will not mature.

When the Son of Heaven is not in Harmony with the dictates of Heaven, it has negative impacts not only on a political but also on a geographical and biological level.

Obama is clearly not leading in accordance with the dictates of Heaven, and is not a Sage-Ruler.  His lords and advisors must dispose of him, and if not, we must dispose of them and him to bring about Harmonious Leadership under Heaven.

FOR THE BIRDS!

[Kai]

I find it curious that these were not just random kills of birds and fish. The fish, for example, were not of many species which is what would be expected during a fish kill, but all of one species. As a person with a background in fisheries biology, I can tell you that this is highly unusual, and has only occured (afaik) in the case of diseases. Rotenone would not do this, nor would arsenic or any other well known toxin because they are non-specific.

Likewise, the birds were all starlings and redwinged blackbirds. Not, for example, sparrows.

There's something weird going on here, and I'm not about to cast stupid ideas around about what it might be.

[Whatever]

So I get online this morning and this is the first thing I see....

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110107/ap_on_sc/us_sci_dead_wildlife_fact_check

Blame technology, says famed Harvard biologist E.O. Wilson. With the Internet, cell phones and worldwide communications, people are noticing events, connecting the dots more.

"This instant and global communication, it's just a human instinct to read mystery and portents of dangers and wondrous things in events that are unusual," Wilson told The Associated Press on Thursday. "Not to worry, these are not portents that the world is about to come to an end."

Wilson and the others say instant communications — especially when people can whip out smart phones to take pictures of critter carcasses and then post them on the Internet — is giving a skewed view of what is happening in the environment.

Uh huh.  So essentially this article says these kind of die offs happen all the time, we just didn't know about them.  But since suddenly in the year 2010 there are cell phones and cameras etc we are now aware of something that has been happening all along? 

Really? 

I have to agree with Kai.  I think something is going on and I'll go a step further and say I think the government is covering it up.

[LMNO]

An additional piece(s) of information:

- While there are usually fireworks on NYE, the Arkansas site reports that commercial (high grade) fireworks were detonated, rattling windows in the area.

- First dead birds noticed shortly after midnight, NYE.

- These birds are known to gather in large numbers prior to migration.

- Ornithologists noticed a higher-than-average amount of birds in the area.



No conclusions drawn.

[hooplala]

So I get online this morning and this is the first thing I see....

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110107/ap_on_sc/us_sci_dead_wildlife_fact_check

Blame technology, says famed Harvard biologist E.O. Wilson. With the Internet, cell phones and worldwide communications, people are noticing events, connecting the dots more.

"This instant and global communication, it's just a human instinct to read mystery and portents of dangers and wondrous things in events that are unusual," Wilson told The Associated Press on Thursday. "Not to worry, these are not portents that the world is about to come to an end."

Wilson and the others say instant communications — especially when people can whip out smart phones to take pictures of critter carcasses and then post them on the Internet — is giving a skewed view of what is happening in the environment.

Uh huh.  So essentially this article says these kind of die offs happen all the time, we just didn't know about them.  But since suddenly in the year 2010 there are cell phones and cameras etc we are now aware of something that has been happening all along? 

Really? 

I have to agree with Kai.  I think something is going on and I'll go a step further and say I think the government is covering it up.

That does make some sense, though.  With all the social networking that has been spreading recently (mostly in the last 5 years or so.  ZOMG, Lo5s!!) it would make sense that some things (not saying necessarily this case) which had always happened randomly around the globe in relatively small geographical areas would now be focused on more heavily.

Conversely, this is also the same reason that UFOs seem less and less likely.  With all the cell phone cams, etc, if they are really flying around it seems likely that someone would have nabbed some good footage by now.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

We set off massive commercial fireworks around here every year, many times a year, over wetlands, and we have huge red-winged blackbird populations. Nothing like this has ever happened once. Birds frightened to death tend to die at the time of the fright, and don't continue to fly around and drop dead hours after the fright.

Just sayin'.

[LMNO]

No conclusions drawn.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Also, the idea that prior to 2011 human technology was simply too primitive to document such occurrences = LOL.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

No conclusions drawn.

Oh, yeah, the fact that you concluded with that TOTALLY means that no one should reply to your preceding statements with relevant facts. 

[hooplala]

Also, the idea that prior to 2011 human technology was simply too primitive to document such occurrences = LOL.

I hope that's not directed at me, because that was not the intended message of my post.  Just saying that we will be seeing things, and probably have been seeing things, in the last few years and upcoming years that have been happening randomly at irregular intervals in the past, due to the saturation of information which is accompanying social networking.  Not that technology was too primitive before, it simply wasn't as ubiquitous.

[LMNO]

No conclusions drawn.

Oh, yeah, the fact that you concluded with that TOTALLY means that no one should reply to your preceding statements with relevant facts. 

Fine, don't believe me.  I haven't been convinced in any specific direction, I'm just trying to see what facts exist, and which speculations may fit them.

For example, autopsies have shown physica trauma, and no evidence of toxins.



And if you recall, my first wild guess was some sort of military jet/stealth technology that collided or buffetted the birds, using NYE as cover.