A strange discovery this morning in downtown Austin. (TX)

KLBJ News ^ | 1/8/2007 | n/a

[Arrowhead1952]

Several blocks of Congress Ave are closed as police investigate the death of dozens and dozens of birds lying in the street.

KLBJ spoke to the APD's Toni Shovenitz, She says they are speculating it is some type of posioning.

Right now police are using leaf-blowers to clean the road. They hope re-open this area before rush hour traffic.

[reagan_fanatic]

We've got starlings here in Michigan and at times they flock by the thousands

Gad, I HATE those birds. I had to stop putting out suet for the songbirds because the Starlings would empty the suet baskets within hours.

I did try to get even with them though - I set up a suet basket on my tree and placed a 10x2 board in front for them to land on. I then placed two bare electrical wires about an 1/8" apart on the board, and run the wiring into my house where I plugged it into a switched outlet by the window.

When the Starlings would light on the perch, I would flip the switch and give the little bastards a jolt.

While I certainly enjoyed their squawks when I hit the juice, even that didn't keep them away.

[Rick.Donaldson]

This is kinda scary. I watched "The Stand" all day on tv yesterday. lol... it (Captain Tripps Virus) started around that area. (ok ok. Coincidence?) :)

[null and void]

Me too, but I missed the first hour or so...

[null and void]

Try 220...

[Diddle E. Squat]

Well, it was a bird brain!

[weezel]

Dead birds in Austin, gas smell all over Manhattan, illegal middle easterers sneaking into the Miami ports, and the islamokkkrats havent had control of congress for a week yet!!

[Arrowhead1952]

Don't forget about this story.

Dallas-based food chain to accept Mexican Pesos

[dfwgator]

[MJemison]

"Grackles, or starlings?" Could be similiar birds. Basically a pest.

Or English sparrows. Along with the nasty starlings, a non-native species.

[TexanByBirth]

Talked to a friend of mine who works near downtown and he had to go up to 15th and then down Red River to get from his office on W 10th to the Federal Court House.

He says the popular theory going around the Court House is: a wedding reception took place at the Driskell or some other location downtown, the guest threw rice, the birds ate the rice and then drank water, the birds then croak!

[woofie]

Those birds joined a suicide cult a few years back

[TexanByBirth]

Scratch that: My friend was going to the Federal Building not the Court House.

Still said it was a pain in the butt!

[Tenacious 1]

[Tall communications-towers hidden by fog has killed thousands of nighttime migratory birds at several sites in the US and Canada. (Now-extinct site was www.towerkills.org).]

I'm no expert, but I don't buy it. I had a lengthy discussion with an environmental engineer that studied the issue at length. He was emphatic about how disappointed he was with the fact birds do not routinely fly into communications towers. He said that he could never find a case where numerous birds where found dead at any one site. He said he researched with all the leading "experts" and none could produce evidence with photos or actual "killer towers". Where they did find dead birds (2-4 at most), they were found to be diseased, old or victims of prey, and never of all of the same species.

I don't know much about it beyond what is stated below.

[RonDog]

If you are anywhere near the central Texas area, those grackles are the noisy and obnoxious black birds.

Grackles, from www.schmoker.org:

Click any of the smaller images above for a LARGER picture.

[secret garden]

What I don't understand is why there's a statue of Stevie Ray in Austin when everyone knows he was from Oakcliff. Or was it South Oak Cliff...

[TexKat]

Parts of Texas capital closed after dead birds found

Mon Jan 8, 2007 4:29 PM GMT

AUSTIN (Reuters) - The downtown area of the Texan capital of Austin was closed on Monday as a precaution after the discovery of several dozen dead birds, officials said.

"The area will be closed until at least noon (1 p.m. EST) today," Austin police department spokeswoman Toni Chovanetz said.

Officials said the street closures were a precaution in case the deaths were related to something like a gas leak but they did not believe there was any direct health threat.

"We ... do not feel that there is a threat to the public's health," said Dr Adolfo Valadez, medical director for the Travis county health and human services department.



He added that the department did not think avian flu was responsible for the deaths of the birds, which included grackles, sparrows and pigeons. The birds were being tested.

The area affected includes the commercial heart of the city, preventing thousands of workers from reaching their jobs, but not the state legislature which was due to open its 2007 session on Tuesday.

Some buildings in New York were evacuated and a train service temporarily suspended on Monday morning due to the smell of gas throughout much of Manhattan, but authorities said there was no danger and no indication it was a terrorist attack.

http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/articlenews.aspx?type=scienceNews&storyid=2007-01-08T162923Z_01_N08362915_RTRIDST_0_SCIENCE-AUSTIN-CLOSURE-DC.XML

[RonDog]

"Grackle" ping - My post #134.

[TexKat]

Crews collecting birds are shown on a closed off stretch of Congress Avenue in downtown Austin, Texas, Monday, Jan 8, 2007. Police closed a 10-block stretch early Monday so officials could conduct environmental tests after several dozen birds were found dead. The carcasses were found overnight. There were no reports of humans harmed. (AP Photo/American-Statesman, Brian K. Diggs)

[isthisnickcool]

The legislature is about to go back in to session. Must have something to do with that.

[TexKat]

grackles, sparrows and pigeons

http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/articlenews.aspx?type=scienceNews&storyid=2007-01-08T162923Z_01_N08362915_RTRIDST_0_SCIENCE-AUSTIN-CLOSURE-DC.XML