Shortly before midnight on New Year’s Eve, as many as 5,000 red-winged blackbirds fell to the ground in
Arkansas, dead. It appears they were torn from their nighttime roosts by a thunderstorm, became waterlogged, and died from exposure. "This is a well-known phenomenon," said a
Cornell ornithologist. And what about the hundreds of thousands of fish that died nearby? Disease is the apparent cause. "We have fishkills from time to time, it's not unusual,” said one state official. In addition, on Tuesday,
500 dead redwing blackbirds and starlings turned up in Louisana. The birds suffered internal injuries that led to deadly blood clots—possibly from falling from the sky.