More Dead Birds Fall From the Sky in Idaho

On June 27, 2015, a road in Kuna, Idaho, was found covered with dead songbirds. This follows the mass deaths earlier this year of over 2,000 migrating snow geese that dropped to the ground dead or dying in eastern Idaho. Why are birds falling out of the sky dead in Idaho? What can be done before it happens again?

The mass bird deaths in late June were reported by Kuna resident Susan Carlson, who first noticed a problem when her car approached vultures in the road eating dead birds. As she continued driving, she found the road covered with them. She described them as songbirds of various species. Some were alive but near death, others were still dropping in mid-flight, including one that fell on her car. Her reaction should not be surprising:

I was just very disturbed by what I saw … The whole scene made me very, very sad.

Carlson is not the only witness to the mass songbird deaths in Idaho. Evin Oneale, regional conservation educator for the Idaho Department of Fish and Game, says she’s been getting calls about dead songbirds for weeks. The ones he has examined show no signs of physical injury nor symptoms of avian cholera, which is the official reason given for the snow geese deaths in Idaho in March.

Oneale believes the songbirds were killed by an infection from an unknown pathogen. Idaho residents think otherwise. Some are blaming climate change or HAARP for the unusually high heat that may have caused exhaustion or excessive thirst. Others blame chemicals used in the nearby alfalfa fields to control weeds and pests. Still others warn of radiation from Fukushima, secret military frequency weapons or cell phone towers.

No one knows what killed these songbirds in Idaho. It’s too late for them. Let’s hope they can give us the answer … and we have the courage to confront who or what is causing it and force a change before it’s too late for all of us.