Birds from Mexico are rare, and the disappearance of so many birds has been a mystery. The government’s theory is that they were poisoned by illegal poachers, but this hasn’t been proved yet.
Hundreds of bird corpses were discovered on the streets of Chihuahua, Mexico, surprising residents. It was not a nice thing to see. The corpses, however, were yellow-headed blackbirds, and the occurrence was caught on tape by a security camera. That’s how the world learned about the mass extinction of hundreds of blackbirds. They plummeted from the sky and perished when they collided with the earth. Experts are attempting to solve the puzzle. “The origin of this unusual and frightening phenomenon is honestly anyone’s guess at this moment,” says Carlos Botero, an assistant professor of biology at a university, according to CNN.
According to CNN, there are several options.
One of them might be the deadly gas impact. This may happen when the birds fly through an area with potentially harmful pollutants. Autopsies of the deceased specimens would be required to determine if this occurred. A predator is another option. The birds may have been startled, and they attempted to flee. Migratory birds were killed after colliding with buildings in the United States, according to a media story from April 2019. They normally go from far away regions and are familiar with the routes to take, however they may get lost at night owing to the lights. This is particularly true while flying over major cities, when the dazzling lights serve as a distraction.
The birds might have been startled by a predator.
According to CNN, ornithologist Richard Broughton believes the birds’ deaths were likely caused by the unexpected presence of a predator. He speculated that the birds were attempting to evade predators such as falcons. Blackbirds, he believes, have their own approach for avoiding predators.
They whirl in the sky, causing the huge birds to get confused. In this case, the falcon may have plunged into the flock of birds, scattering them in various directions in an attempt to flee. According to a news story from August 2020, solar farms kill thousands of birds each year.
The causes of the birds’ deaths are difficult to determine.
Several hypotheses have been proposed by those in the know. The birds seemed to be attempting to flee en masse after being attacked from above. The predator may have struck from above, forcing the birds to fly down, but they were unable to recover in time. CNN notes that the video’s timestamp stated that it was evening. Andrew Farnsworth, who works in a New York ornithology lab, has a different viewpoint. He speculates that the birds were scared by a loud noise. He claims that similar instances have occurred in the past. It’s reassuring that no one has brought up the possibility of a viral assault on birds. It’s possible that this prompted the panic button to be pressed.
Birds may perish for a variety of causes.
There have been cases in the past of our feathery companions dying while in flight, according to Roanoke. In 1999, for example, about 100 huge sea ducks were slaughtered. It occurred in Canada’s Baffin Island. Their flight route was clear of impediments, and poor vision was the cause of the disaster.
The name Roanoke comes from a research that determined it was caused by cataracts in their eyes. Then there were the reports of geese dying in fields in southern Manitoba, Canada. These were from 1985 and 2003, respectively. The birds were injured in these instances due to confusion in flying on moonless nights or because they were scared by a rainstorm. Yellow-headed blackbirds were the birds in this instance in Mexico. They are migratory birds from North America’s western and prairie wetlands. They normally spend the winter in Mexico and then return to the United States and Canada in the summer.
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