Thousands Of Birds Are Dying In The US, And No One Knows Why Exactly

Migration is hard for birds, where they decide to fly thousands of miles to keep themselves safe from unfavourable climate conditions or to breed.

However, a report by CNN has revealed lakhs of migratory birds were falling from the skies and dying, without any reason and this number is only rising.

New Mexico State University

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Researchers at the New Mexico State University are trying to understand the cause behind this dreadful situation. Large flocks of birds were first spotted sometime late August around the White Sands National Monument in the US. This number was only around a few hundred however now it has risen to lakhs.

Dead bird species include warblers, sparrows, bluebirds, blackbirds, flycatchers as well as the western wood pewee. Similar incidents have also been found in Colorado, Texas and Mexico.

What¡¯s odd is the behaviour of most of the aforementioned birds before dying like this. These birds are often seen on trees and shrubs, however, people report them walking on the ground, looking for insects to eat.

What¡¯s worse is that these birds are otherwise very sensitive, and don¡¯t allow humans near them. But due to some reason they were unresponsive, which most getting hit by cars and not being able to distance themselves from humans. In one instance, swallows who barely walk or come on the ground were actually doing nothing when people were approaching them.

Are California wildfires to blame for this?

While not yet confirmed, researchers feel that one of the many reasons for the birds to behave in the delusional way that they¡¯re behaving could be due to the catastrophic wildfires in California and other western parts of the nation, forcing birds to migrate before they were ready to do so, without necessary fat or reserves.

Researchers also feel that most birds might have to change their routes which would have taken them longer to reach their destination. Additionally, they think the birds would have come in contact with harmful smoke that would have damaged their lungs, causing them to drop dead.

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Representational Image: Reuters

But researchers also highlight the fact that people have been seeing dead birds since August, which makes them believe that there could be another factor contributing to their deaths -- climate change.

This won¡¯t be the first time, considering we have come across several studies in the past where they¡¯ve shown how drastically climate change is affecting their lives -- whether changing of their breeding patterns, directly affecting their population or hunting patterns, making it difficult for them to adapt. Studies are currently underway to find the root cause of this situation.