tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1939816120780434683.post1271463890135858593..comments2011-12-19T10:44:21.043-08:00Comments on My Renaissance: It's Raining Birds!CWriterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00883758371054454041noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1939816120780434683.post-62237315639079111632011-01-06T10:47:48.813-08:002011-01-06T10:47:48.813-08:00I actually came across the article after posting t...I actually came across the article after posting this and have continued to research on it. So far I have been looking into massive animal deaths for both of those years. So far, there have not been as many reported, sighted or even blogged about. Not in the same numbers that there are mentioned about the numerous animal deaths. I am not saying it's the end of the world, but I am saying that is something to be looked at. Especially since everyone says that the deaths are inclusive.<br /><br />I want to investigate every angle and analyze before ruling anything out.CWriterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00883758371054454041noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1939816120780434683.post-87149066331454413702011-01-06T08:10:26.846-08:002011-01-06T08:10:26.846-08:00Actually, this isn't uncommon. It's just a...Actually, this isn't uncommon. It's just a slow news period, and when the first incident got world-wide press, every other incident suddenly became newsworthy, too.<br /><br />We don't know what caused a lot of these, because there hasn't been time to get scientific testing completed. We probably <i>will</i> know, with most of them, but it won't get any publicity. By then, there will be something else in the headlines.<br /><br />And much of this is easily explained, if you think about them individually. (<i>Of course</i> dead fish tend to be missing their eyes. That's the easiest meal for bird scavengers.)<br /><br />But ordinarily, these things happen - for a variety of reasons - without getting sensationalized. I used to have a friend who'd regularly pick up thousands of dead birds around radio towers, after bad weather during migration. They simply flew into the tower, and the cables holding it up, on dark nights.<br /><br />And the birds in these incidents are wintering in the south, roosting and flying in huge flocks. They stick close together, so you can get a lot of deaths at once. After all, if a single bird flies into your window, you don't think anything about it, right?<br /><br />And, obviously, mass fish deaths are a dime a dozen. Not that they're unimportant, of course, but they happen all the time - from chemical dumping, runoff, disease, etc. There's absolutely nothing linking them to these bird deaths, though - except the news media (and woo peddlers) trying to drum up interest.<br /><br />FYI, here's a surprisingly rational article in <a href="http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2011-01-04-louisiana-bird-deaths_N.htm" rel="nofollow">USA Today</a> pointing out some of this.<br /><br />Weird stuff is interesting, and when something catches the public's attention like this, there are a <i>lot</i> of people eager to take advantage of it. But IMHO, we need to take it all with a grain of salt.Bill Garthrighthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08552459555883204060noreply@blogger.com