BEEBE, Ark. (AP) _ There’s another blackbird mystery. About 500 of the birds have fallen to their death in Louisiana, littering a quarter-mile stretch of highway near Baton Rouge.
It comes just a few days after thousands of blackbirds fell from the sky in Arkansas. It’s not clear if the deaths are related.
Scientists think New Year’s Eve fireworks may have sent the birds in Arkansas crashing into homes, cars and each other. But they say they’ll never know for sure.
Experts say wildlife deaths in large numbers aren’t uncommon.
Carcasses of birds from both kills are being sent to researchers who’ll try to determine what happened to them.
Experts are also looking for the cause of a massive fish kill. About 83,000 dead and dying drum fish washed up last week along a 20-mile stretch of the Arkansas River, about 100 miles west of where the New Year’s Eve blackbird deaths took place.
Wildlife officials say the fish and bird deaths aren’t related — and since just one species of fish was involved, it’s likely that they were stricken by an illness.
(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)