Fireworks blamed for deaths of thousands of blackbirds

Celebratory fireworks for New Year most likely sent thousands of blackbirds into such a fright that they crashed into homes, cars and each other before plummeting to their deaths in the US state of Arkansas, scientists have said.

The blackbirds rained on to roof-tops and pavements and into fields around the town of Beebe last weekend. One struck a woman walking her dog. Another hit a police car. Some locals said an umbrella was one resident's only protection from the falling birds.

Birds were "littering the streets, the yards, the driveways, everywhere," said Robby King, a county wildlife officer in Beebe, a community of 5,000 people. "It was hard to drive down the street in some places without running over them."

"The blackbirds were flying at rooftop level instead of treetop level" to avoid explosions above, said Karen Rowe, an ornithologist with the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission yesterday. "Blackbirds have poor eyesight, and they started colliding with things."

The birds were the second mass wildlife death in Arkansas in recent days. Last week, about 83,000 dead and dying drum fish washed up along a 20-mile stretch of the Arkansas River, about 100 miles west of Beebe.

Wildlife officials said the fish deaths are not related to the dead birds, and that because mainly one species of fish was affected, it is likely they were stricken by an illness. Full test results could take up to a month.