I was as stunned as you to read earlier this week about the fish die-off in Arkansas, as well as the 5,000 dead birds that greeted the small town of Beebe, Arkansas on New Year's Day.
No connection between the two events, of course.
I was shocked that there wasn't any thorough explanation of the bird deaths, except "loud noises...shortly before the birds began falling," supposedly from New Year's fireworks. A bird expert said there was a chance they flew up scared and slammed into roofs, awnings, windows, and branches, 5,000 birds suddenly and mysteriously committing mass-suicide in terror.
I wonder why I've never heard about bird kills in the wake of fireworks or thunderstorms before. I've seen a lot of fireworks shows, and a lot of thunderstorms. I've never seen 5,000 black bird carcasses littering the road.
In the same story, 500 red-winged black birds were found dead in Southern Louisiana on the same night.
And now, I open CNN to find 2 million fish have died in Chesapeake Bay.
Goddamn.
"Cold water stress" is the source of the kill, an expert says. Due to climate variation? Is a subtle environmental impact hitting wildlife first, as the roar of an approaching tsunami sends cats, dogs, rodents, and birds scrambling for higher ground?
Looking at this map from the Atlantic Monthly, it's clear that these sudden kills are happening all over. If I were a public health official, and these marked reported outbreaks of a disease, I might say we had the makings of an epidemic.
Walk to your river. Say a prayer over it. Pick up a piece of trash. And if you live anywhere near a site of these die-offs, go find out and tell us what's really happening out there.
Fish and wildlife biologists be damned.
1 comments:
My VA. backyard was loaded with finch, cardinals, titmouse and a large variety of birds. This year, I've seen one finch, 2 small rubythroat hummingbirds and a few carolina's in my backyard. Feeders are unvisited and I hear insects more than birds.
I'm a bit concerned with all of this.
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