Thousands Of Birds and Fish Dead in Arkansas

It may not be the end of the world, but something sure is 'fishy' about the thousands of birds that dropped from the sky and the hundred thousand fish that washed ashore in Arkansas on New Years Eve.

First the birds started dropping from the sky. Then thousands of fish began washing up on the riverbank. What's next for Arkansas - 20 inches of snow?

It may sound apocalyptic, but scientists are eying perfectly natural causes for the death of 3,000 red-winged blackbirds on New Year's Eve and the subsequent discovery of 100,000 dead freshwater drum in the Arkansas River.

Residents of the small town of Beebe were startled Saturday morning to find the dead birds littered over a 1.5-square-mile area.

"Every dog and cat in the neighborhood that night was able to get a fresh snack," said Karen Rowe, an ornithologist with the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission.

Concerned cleanup crews took no chances and donned protective suits and gas masks to collect the carcasses - but it may be that nothing more nefarious than severe weather that night was the cause.

There are numerous past cases of birds becoming disoriented in storms and crashing en masse into the ground.

"This is a well-known phenomenon," said John Fitzpatrick, director of Cornell University's ornithology lab. "Given the violent storm in that area, it sounds consistent with the idea that they got swept up in a storm."

(via Natural causes blamed in deaths of thousands of birds, fish in Arkansas.)