Woman reports dozens of dead birds in her yard

Reporter - Lauren Adams
Story Updated: Jan 3, 2011 at 5:59 PM CST

GILBERTSVILLE, Ky. — Near her car, a dead bird. A quick walk to her mailbox, another. Scattered across her front yard, a local woman discovered dozens of dead birds.

"I've never seen anything like it. Never," Sandy said of the discovery.

Sandy, who asked we not share her last name, first noticed the birds several days ago but cleaned them up, not thinking twice.

"I have outdoor pets and just assumed they were bringing them from around the neighborhood."

But when she noticed more birds Monday morning, she panicked, "I had just seen the story on the news about the birds in Arkansas and I was scared."

In fact, 3,000 blackbirds seemed to fall from the sky there- starting last Friday. Autopsies have since ruled out poisoning. One top biologist from Cornell University said the birds were "....probably asleep in a single tree when a washing machine-type thunderstorm sucked them up into the air, disoriented them, and even fatally soaked and chilled them."

Sandy was not sure what had lead the birds to her yard.

But, off the bat, wildlife biologist Kent Ozment said he was not too concerned.

"These birds are in the millions right now. Six birds out of a million really isn't that many."

While he couldn't say for sure, he guessed the birds simply succumbed to the elements, "Probably it was just some sort of winter stress."

While Sandy said she was releived to know it was nature-related, she still shuddered at the discovery.

"It's really creepy."

Local 6 checked in with several other fish and wildlife outlets and even some of Sandy's neighbors. No other birds have been discovered or reported.

http://www.wpsdlocal6.com/news/local/Woman-reports-dozens-of-dead-birds-in-her-yard-112830524.html