From: "Rich Gauszka" 


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/worldnews.html?in_article_i
d=427997&in_page_id=1811
It could be the plot of a horror film, but in two towns on opposite sides
of the world the mysterious phenomenon of thousands of dead birds dropping
out of the sky is all too real.

Officials are baffled by the unexplained deaths which have affected
Australia and the U.S.

Three weeks ago thousands of crows, pigeons, wattles and honeyeaters fell
out of the sky in Esperance, Western Australia.

Then last week dozens of grackles, sparrows and pigeons dropped dead on two
streets in Austin, Texas.

As birds continue to die in Esperance and the town's dawn chorus remains
eerily silent, vets in both countries have been unable to establish a cause
of death - despite carrying out a large number of autopsies on the birds.

Wildlife officials from Western Australia's Department of Environment and
Conservation said they were baffled by the "catastrophic event"
but emphasised the deaths had nothing to do with a severe storm which
recently struck the area, as the birds had started dying before then.
District nature conservation coordinator Mike Fitzgerald said: "It's
very substantial.

"We estimate several thousand birds are dead, although we don't have a
clear number because of the large areas of bushland."

Birds Australia, the country's largest bird conservation group, said it had
not heard of a similar occurrence.

"You'd have to call it a most unusual event and one that we'd all have
to be concerned about," said chief executive Graeme Hamilton.

Dr Fiona Sunderman, chief veterinary officer of the Department of
Agriculture and Food, suspects the cause of death is some form of toxic
poisoning.

Esperance resident Michelle Crisp, who normally sees hundreds of birds
roosting in her garden, counted 80 dead ones in one day.

"It went to the point where we had nothing, not a single bird,"
she said. "It was like a moonscape - just horrible."



http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,21040474-421,00.html

A TINY dead wattle bird being rushed to Perth this morning could hold the
key to the mystery deaths of thousands of birds that dropped from the sky
in the holiday town of Esperance.

As West Australian officials yesterday tried to hose down public health
concerns - despite not knowing the cause of the deaths - the sick and
convulsing wattle bird was put down by an Esperance vetinerary surgeon.

Its gut and organs were preserved to stop decomposition and increase the
chances of finding answers when it is flown to Perth today for what will be
the sixth bird autopsy in a fortnight.

The other autopsies failed to explain the deaths, which started three weeks
ago, emptying the skies over Esperance of up to 5000 wattle birds,
yellow-throated miners, new holland honeyeaters and singing honeyeaters.

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