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On Friday, dozens of birds fell out of the sky and died on a street in the Great Kills section of Staten Island. Residents grew concerned as, the Staten Island Advance reported, birds "flopped and twitched...as they breathed their last" (video here). One resident said the birds were flying "as if they were drunk" before falling to the ground.
Residents were advised to stay in their homes as the fire department, police and as well as other city agencies were on the scene, trying to determine why the birds were dying. Some residents returning home weren't even allowed out of their cars for a while. The dead birds, either blackbirds or purple martins, were all around Wiman Avenue and Tennyson Drive.
However scary seeing piles of dead birds on one's lawn may have been, the Health Department said, "There is nothing to suggest that there is a risk to the people living in the community." The Health Department thinks the mass bird fatalities might be due to pesticide poisoning, which isn't all that reassuring either, but whatever! Representatie Vito Fossella said residents shouldn't worry but "The sooner we can get answers, the better to calm any fears."
Dead bird sightings some times suggest the presence of the West Nile virus (the city asks residents to report all dead bird sightings) and there is talk about stopping pigeon procreation. And the dead birds are still being sent to a lab for autopsies (results may not be ready for weeks).
Still from video by Patrick George for the Staten Island Advance
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Back in January, something similar to this happened in Texas.
Ah... how comforting that the government will lull us in to complacency no matter what occurs. "Please nevermind the flooding, extinction of polar bears due to drowning, or masses of birds periodically dying all at the same time. They are all totally random occurrences that will never affect you! Also, please disregard the annual maple syrup smell. That is all."
Maybe Councilman Felder is taking matters into his own heads. Watch your backs wild turkeys of Staten Island.
"There is nothing to suggest that there is a risk to the people living in the community."
Just stay in your homes though and please don't exit your vehicles. If you could possibly limit your breathing to a bare minimum, please do so. That saying regarding a "canary in the coal mine"? Please don't think of that either. Have a super day.
I'm awfully attached to my pet parrot and thankful that this wasn't in Brooklyn near our apartment with its very non-air-tight windows - birds have super sensitive respiratory systems (overheated teflon can kill them in seconds). Really a shame.
Probably something from Jersey in the upper atmosphere caused their deaths.
Interesting. Is this not a variant on the report of a mass of birds probably killed by an ammonia leak of some sort? As I recall, the Fire Dept. 'fessed up to having addressed a fire in the area that could have had a toxic-chemical-vapor leak as a consequence.
Also, as I recall, the story had to do mostly with crows being found dead.
The WNV bit is sort of silly, especially when linked to pigeons. First, the principal vector for WNV is the mosquito. The best science (as opposed to some very doubtful stuff) indicates that pigeons are generally hard to infect with this (and other) viruses, don't generally act as a "reservoir" and therefore don't pass it on. [Crows seem to be another matter. On the other hand, this isn't a prime season for mosquitoes, is it?...]
DHMH is generally very careful, in my experience. The problem is, its utterances are often quoted out of context by folks who lack both the knowledge to follow DHMH statements (or even to know what has been issued, as a whole -- they get digests...) and the wit to understand what is at stake. Since birds are — generally — more immediately sensitive to environmental poisons than people are, DHMH is interested in reports, even more in cadavers, I suspect.
Why Gothamist would add the confusing notions anent controlling pigeon fecundity (expensively stupid, since pigeon populations are slowly, stably decreasing; some more tax-and-spend stuff from pols feathering their own nests?) is utterly mysterious. Shortage of good stories to tell, laddies?
Interesting. Is this not a variant on the report of a mass of birds probably killed by an ammonia leak of some sort? As I recall, the Fire Dept. 'fessed up to having addressed a fire in the area that could have had a toxic-chemical-vapor leak as a consequence.
Also, as I recall, the story had to do mostly with crows being found dead.
The WNV bit is sort of silly, especially when linked to pigeons. First, the principal vector for WNV is the mosquito. The best science (as opposed to some very doubtful stuff) indicates that pigeons are generally hard to infect with this (and other) viruses, don't generally act as a "reservoir" and therefore don't pass it on. [Crows seem to be another matter. On the other hand, this isn't a prime season for mosquitoes, is it?...]
DHMH is generally very careful, in my experience. The problem is, its utterances are often quoted out of context by folks who lack both the knowledge to follow DHMH statements (or even to know what has been issued, as a whole -- they get digests...) and the wit to understand what is at stake. Since birds are — generally — more immediately sensitive to environmental poisons than people are, DHMH is interested in reports, even more in cadavers, I suspect.
Why Gothamist would add the confusing notions anent controlling pigeon fecundity (expensively stupid, since pigeon populations are slowly, stably decreasing; some more tax-and-spend stuff from pols feathering their own nests?) is utterly mysterious. Shortage of good stories to tell, laddies?
Interesting. Is this not a variant on the report of a mass of birds probably killed by an ammonia leak of some sort? As I recall, the Fire Dept. 'fessed up to having addressed a fire in the area that could have had a toxic-chemical-vapor leak as a consequence.
Also, as I recall, the story had to do mostly with crows being found dead.
The WNV bit is sort of silly, especially when linked to pigeons. First, the principal vector for WNV is the mosquito. The best science (as opposed to some very doubtful stuff) indicates that pigeons are generally hard to infect with this (and other) viruses, don't generally act as a "reservoir" and therefore don't pass it on. [Crows seem to be another matter. On the other hand, this isn't a prime season for mosquitoes, is it?...]
DHMH is generally very careful, in my experience. The problem is, its utterances are often quoted out of context by folks who lack both the knowledge to follow DHMH statements (or even to know what has been issued, as a whole -- they get digests...) and the wit to understand what is at stake. Since birds are — generally — more immediately sensitive to environmental poisons than people are, DHMH is interested in reports, even more in cadavers, I suspect.
Why Gothamist would add the confusing notions anent controlling pigeon fecundity (expensively stupid, since pigeon populations are slowly, stably decreasing; some more tax-and-spend stuff from pols feathering their own nests?) is utterly mysterious. Shortage of good stories to tell, laddies?