Swedish birds 'scared to death': veterinarian (Birds fell from the sky in central Sweden on Tuesday)

[Turborama]

Source: The Local

A county veterinarian has speculated that the birds that fell from the sky in central Sweden on Tuesday may have been frightened by fireworks, then run over by a car after landing on the road in the dark.

Shortly before midnight on Tuesday, residents found 50 to 100 jackdaws on a street in Falköping southeast of Skövde. The incident echoed a number of unexplained incidents earlier this week across the southern US.

County veterinarian Robert ter Horst believes that the birds may have been literally scared to death by fireworks set off on Tuesday night. "We have received information from local residents last night. Our main theory is that the birds were scared away because of the fireworks and landed on the road, but couldn't fly away from the stress and were hit by a car," he explained to The Local on Wednesday.

He added that they likely had difficulty orienting themselves in the dark and although they have received one report involving a vehicular collision with the birds, ter Horst believes they may have been hit by more.

"We will continue to look at whether there are other theories, but then we have to do an autopsy on the birds. The birds just now are in a car on the way to a laboratory in Uppsala. We don't know exactly what happened yet, but we will continue the investigation," he added.

Read more: http://www.thelocal.se/31262/20110105/

---

Anyone remember that short lived TV series "Flashforward"?

A synopsis of what's happened in the past week is at the bottom of the article.

[InvisibleTouch]

1. I'm thinking of that scene in "The Core"...

...where all the birds went nuts because their electromagnetic sense had been screwed up. Like a modern Hitchcock.

[nebenaube]

2. Wow

What utter bullshit. Like, this must be the first year that ever had fireworks on New Year's.

[Hell Hath No Fury]

10. That's the thing I don't get --

It isn't as if this is the first time every people have launched fireworks in the skies. :eyes: Why isn't this a twice yearly occurace here in the US? If fireworks were the issue, then we should have massive bird drops across the whole country on July 4th and New Year!

[Autumn Colors]

15. New Year's Eve was Friday, this happened on Tuesday

Fireworks on Jan. 3/4??

[Angry Dragon]

3. The military is testing a pulse weapon

and doing a good job of it

[valerief]

16. Yeah, they're going to make sure it will be effective to control riots

after the next crash/massive job migration.

[tabatha]

4. Get rid of f****ing fireworks.

And bright night lights. And reflective windows. And military disruptive devices.

We share this world with other creatures. We have a ban on noise after 10pm for ourselves, how about consideration of other creatures.

[aquart]

19. New York has massive fireworks and no dead birds.

Just not buying this explanation.

[Historic NY]

25. They have flying rats - pigeons nothing fazes them, nothing.

[aquart]

42. They're birds and they're dumb.

We also have tons of other birds including migratory ones. All feeling fine after idiots shot off fireworks in all the boroughs just like they do every New Year's and every Fourth of July.

[AlphaCentauri]

5. May be atmospheric radioactivity concentrations and dose rates from nuclear tests

[robcon]

6. It's a normal thing. The conspiracy and other theories are silly.

n/t

[Hell Hath No Fury]

13. "It's a normal thing."

Please show me the decades of similar reports from the US. You know, the reports of massive bird kills every July 4th and New Year? Hell, I once watched no less than 8 simultaneos Bay Area city fireworks displays from a rooftop in Emeryville CA. Strangely, I don't recall reading the reports the next day of the thousands of birds left dead the next day from the pyrotechnics. :shrug:

[Igel]

41. I don't know if it's a "normal thing."

Often media reports don't correlate well to the frequency of what's being reported.

Where I grew up we had frequent fish kills. Some got reported, some didn't. What mattered wasn't the size of the kills, what mattered was the salience: Was another one reported recently? If so, fish kills were news and must still be news. Or perhaps it goes to whinging about a heat wave and makes another "the weather's *so* hot that..." story.

Same for shark sightings/attacks one summer. Average frequency of shark-bite incidents. But instead of being ignored, every single one made national news. Another year there were jellyfish "attacks". No real increase in the frequency of anything but the "Has nature run amok?" stories by apparently panic-stricken reporters.

So can we conclude large-scale bird die-offs are suddenly on the increase because the number of stories has increased? No. The first made all the other reports newsworthy. The increase in stories may be meaningless. We also can't conlude that the number of large-scale bird die-offs *hasn't* increased. The increase in stories may reflect an increase in incidents. Since we can't tell, we can't tell.

Perhaps it is a normal thing. Not something I have any background knowledge in, "birdkills".

[meegbear]

7. Repugs retake the house and large swaths of birds die ...

coincidence?

[Turborama]

8. DUzy!

:rofl:

Anyone know if they're coming back this year? If so, this one's a definite keeper.

Happy New Year! :hi:

[meegbear]

24. Thanks!!

:hi:

[jwirr]

14. Best suggestion yet.

[EFerrari]

20. Cats and dogs living together, Hillary bowing to Hugo

:scared:

[Lucky Luciano]

22. I think not! nt

[daleo]

44. They should be happy to see birdbrains in power. n/t

[BlueMTexpat]

9. There have been several "falling bird" stories seen recently.

As well as mass fish kills.

First, reports came from Arkansas. http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_thelookout/20110103/ts_yblog_thelookout/massive-bird-fish-kills-in-arkansas-leave-many-scratching-heads

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Grt9mdSeZw

Then Louisiana. http://www.opposingviews.com/i/now-birds-falling-from-the-sky-in-louisiana

The phenomenon is not unknown, but it IS mystifying. http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/greenspace/2011/01/thousands-of-dead-birds-falling-from-the-sky-.html Apparently, the only thing new about such stories is that they are being broadcast more widely these days. http://www.businessinsider.com/heres-the-truth-about-the-dead-birds-falling-out-of-the-sky-2011-1

And they certainly give fodder to those who preach the End of Days BS.

[dixiegrrrrl]

28. And Kentucky...

I posted link to the kentucky story ( same date as Ark and Louisiana, strange, huh?)
here in this thread:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x4681979

[BlueMTexpat]

40. I was sure I had seen one about Kentucky somewhere ... it may have

been in that thread.

If I had any theory at all, it would be whether there may have been some toxins released into the atmosphere as just another awful side effect of the Gulf oil spill last summer. It is interesting - and mystifying - when there have been so many events in US southern states ... .

Or again, it could just be that the toxicity generated by RW politicians who seem to thrive in those areas is literally driving the wildlife so nuts that they prefer mass suicide to staying there.

Hey, it's as good a theory as any other - and slightly more rational than The Rapture.

[compaqxp]

11. This worries me.

[Raschel]

12. Me too. Strange that the birds fell right in the street like they did in Maryland (?).

The fireworks explanation doesn't make sense.

I would like to know how common this is. Is it getting reported more widely because of the black birds in our country?

[compaqxp]

21. I've heard of it before but...

I've never heard this much about it.

[Bgno64]

17. We do realize that if these incidents were related...

...the government would never tell us, nor would the media.

[global1]

18. I Think I Know What Killed The Birds........

angry green pigs.

[Critters2]

39. LOL! Thanks for that! nt

[grilled onions]

23. A Sound Machine

Imagine having such a tool that could either drive the enemy mad or running out of hiding where they could easily get picked off. Imagine such a device that wouldn't even need a bullet. Just what they would like--a nice neat war!

[fatbuckel]

26. The fact that they are pushing bullshit explanations make me the most suspicious.

[XemaSab]

27. word

:thumbsup:

[dixiegrrrrl]

29. 2 states and now Sweden immediately say "fireworks".

How...co-incidental.

Fireworks is now the new "weather balloon" explanation?

[glinda]

30. Not buying it. Cover up.

[reggie the dog]

36. 2 states???

arkansas, louisiana, maryland, and kentucky have bird kill offs, as does sweeden, plus fish die in the bay in virginia and in florida.... too much CO2 and not enough oxygen this winter?? i dont know but this is most strange

[dixiegrrrrl]

31. This just in: new massive fish kills, this time in Maryland and Brazil

(Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) -- Wildlife experts are yet to explain why 100 tons of sardines, croaker and catfish have turned up dead in the past week near Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
A government report that may reveal the cause of death is expected to be released today.
The news from South America comes on the heels of five-thousand dead birds falling from the sky in Arkansas on New Years Eve.
Added to the animal weirdness -- another 500 birds were found dead close to a highway north of Baton Rouge, Louisiana and a Gilbertsville, Kentucky woman found dozens of dead birds in her front yard, with more dead birds discovered at nearby Murray State University.
Meanwhile, hundreds of thousands of dead fish have washed ashore along the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland in just the past two weeks.
And up to 100-thousand dead or dying drum fish have appeared recently on the shores of the Arkansas River.

http://tinyurl.com/3876oql
( Links to really long url of web page Sky News)

[snagglepuss]

33. I wonder if these events are related to the magnetic poles shifting which

I believe is going to happen relatively soon.

[Mudoria]

32. It's a portent of the coming zombie apocalypse...

[Amonester]

34. Warning shots from angry Extraterrestrials.

The 'effing everything they touch' human race is next.

[reggie the dog]

35. it would be cool if this were the end of the world

life fucking sucks already and it is only going to get worse for my 3 year old daughter.... when will people start dropping dead???? i am scared, disoriented, and shocked with my divorce, why havent i just dropped dead like thses birds??? this explanation sounds like a bunch of shit to me

[LuckyStrykes]

45. Reggie, you'll get through this.

You will.

[reggie the dog]

46. thank you

i think i will get through it too... i also think that if animals died so often from shock and stress that humans would be dropping in the streets in droves too.

[FedUpWithIt All]

50. It is hard but it gets better.

I promise

:hug:

[freshwest]

37. And this is the first year this has ever been reported with fireworks going off every year?

Okay, now I'm not buying that story anymore!

:wtf:

[StarryNite]

38. I Call Utter Bullshit!

If that were the case this would be happening every fourth of July here.

[Javaman]

48. Well of course...

but in our era of stupid explanations, the "scare the birds to death" is the only "logical" answer.

It's tiring, isn't it?

[Devil_Fish]

43. Fuck here is why! it's the BP Spill. check this out:

Look at that, the current from the gulf heads right for Sweden. Check out this youtube video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pE-1G_476nA&feature

Watch as BP's mess travels right for Sweden!

Am I a conspiracy theorist? or is the truth starring us in the face?

[Javaman]

49. While the conveyor belt does carry water around the globe

it takes a very long time for water to go from the gulf of mexico to sweden.

There was a great show on Nature (PBS) several years ago (before the great stupid befell us all) showing that the deep water currents of the great conveyor belt talks on average 200,000 years to move water from one place to another on the planet.

Granted, I can't link to any proof or even site the original show, so you can either take my word for it or not.

Either way, I don't believe the conveyor belt had anything to do with it.

cheers. :)

[Violet_Crumble]

47. The opposite's happening here in Australia...

The mass deaths of birds and crabs and fish is being evened out by the birth of millions of tiny little spiders that will soon grow into large and scary spiders. Thanks to the wet spring here that's made spiders want to breed like rabbits, aiming a can of flyspray at a fat spider in the spare room resulted in it disgorging millions of microscopic baby spiders as it was in its death throes. It was creepy, but not as creepy as the only time I've seen birds fall from the sky a few years ago during a bushfire here...

:hi: