As regular CFZ-watchers will know, for some time Corinna has been doing a column for Animals & Men and a regular segment on On The Track... particularly about out-of-place birds and rare vagrants. There seem to be more and more bird stories from all over the world hitting the news these days so, to make room for them all - and to give them all equal and worthy coverage - she has set up this new blog to cover all things feathery and Fortean.

Monday, 10 February 2020

What's behind the mysterious death of more than two dozens birds in downtown Pensacola?

Kevin Robinson Pensacola News Journal
Published 8:00 AM EST Feb 8, 2020

More than two dozen birds were found dead on a Pensacola sidewalk Friday, and there are no immediate answers as to why.

The birds were concentrated at the southeast corner of Jefferson and Intendencia streets, though people reported others on surroundings streets and canopies. A crowd of stunned, heartbroken onlookers gathered and tried to puzzle out among themselves what happened.

Phillip Darby, a professor of wildlife ecology at the University of West Florida, didn't see the carnage first-hand, but he said his educated guess was that the birds had crashed into a building.

He said birds tend to follow a pretty set migratory path, and that if there is new construction along the route — particularly large buildings with lots of glass — birds can be disoriented by reflections of trees or the sky and crash into them as a flock.

Still, onlookers at nearby businesses said they hadn't heard any collision, and there didn't seemed to be any visible damage to windows.

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