In an eerie horror film-like phenomenon hundreds of yellow-headed blackbirds have fallen out of the sky dead in northern Mexico.
Chilling footage of the flock falling to their deaths was captured on CCTV.
According to the local newspaper El Heraldo de Chihuahua, the carcasses of the birds were strewn across the street in Cuauhtémoc City. However, the cause of the birds’ death remains unclear.
A flock of birds have dropped dead from unknown causes mid-flight in Mexico.
Two theories have been suggested for their mysterious sudden deaths – one they may have inhaled toxic fumes or they may have been electrocuted by a surging power line
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The incident happened in February of 2023 when the blackbirds were flying south to Mexico from Canada in their yearly migration route. The carcasses of the dead birds were found on the streets in the area of Alvaro Obregon in Cuauhtemoc, a city in the Mexican state of Chihuahua.
The Independent reported that numerous factors could have caused the deaths such as air pollution due to an increase in wood-burning heaters, agrochemicals, and low temperatures in the region.
Other suggestions for the cause of the unexplained deaths have been that the flock may have inhaled toxic smoke, or may have been electrocuted by power lines.
‘We’ve never seen anything like this’: Mysterious mass death of birds in New Mexico has scientists spooked | Raw Story https://t.co/gZbbOZYxYI
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The Guardian speculated that there might be a predatory bird involved with the case. Dr. Richard Broughton, an ecologist with the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology is certain that a predatory bird was responsible for pushing the flock of birds towards the ground.
Broughton’s assumption is based on what he saw in the video footage where the birds descend from the sky as a unit. This phenomenon called “murmuration”, and is often seen in starlings. Broughton believes the flock reacted to the predator in this fashion but was forced too close to the ground where some of them crashed.
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Dr. Alexander Lees from Manchester Metropolitan University in the U.K. agrees with Broughton’s assumption. Lees added that collision with infrastructure was quite common in birds.
