Tag Archives: Birds

Alfred Hitchcock presents: Flying Fungal Avian Invaders (There has to be a catchier title).

by funklord

I will try to refrain from all the obvious comments.  In Kentucky, due to unknown reasons, thousands of birds have made Hopkinsville their home.  Much like the movie, they are attacking citizens, pooping everywhere, and basically terrorizing the town.  So what did the town do?  They hired a guy to take care of the problem.  This pro decided it would be a good idea to blast large bottle rocket type incendiaries at the trees, scaring the birds who then leave…and land on the nearest tree without a maniac shooting large bottle rockets at them.

Here is the twist the FFP has become famous for:  Other that being a general nuisance, these birds crap.  A LOT.  The bird droppings can cause a fungal disease called histoplasmosis.  It is dangerous to humans with compromised immune systems, and it’s fatal to dogs!  The poop lands on the soil, thus contaminating it.  It can take years for the soil to become healthy again.  It can be cured in dogs, but its expensive and takes months.

The Birds are Falling…

by funklord

For those keeping track at home (or on here), entire colonies, flocks, and schools of animals are simply dying all at once.  It has struck again, this time in New Jersey.  They give the reason as a slow acting pesticide, which may be true, but it also may not be.  Everything, of course, is preliminary.  Nonetheless, it is another step in a disturbing trend.

Die Offs

by funklord

This is not the first massive die off of fish in recent history.  Here’s one, here’s one, and this one is right down the street.  I am not going to go on a tirade about Global Warming, because I just don’t know.  What I do know that massive numbers of of animals dying at one place, and one time is not a sign of a healthy biosphere.  Some attribute it to low oxygen in the water, others high temperatures (which leads to low oxygen).

We aren’t just talking fish either.  This website tracks the progress JUST THIS YEAR, the strangest is the dropping from the sky in Arkansas.  Weird stuff.