Video shows hundreds of blackbirds mysteriously plummet from the sky — many nosediving to their deaths

Hundreds of yellow-headed blackbirds crowded over Chihuahua, Mexico, last week when something sent them crashing to the ground, leaving dozens of birds dead along the way.

Footage from a security camera recorded the incident, showing the swarm of blackbirds suddenly descending on a house. Most of the birds fly away after diving, but dozens were seen being left motionless along the sidewalk and road. The incident happened around 5 a.m. on Feb. 7, according to local reports, and the bird species is believed to be migrating to Mexico from northern Canada when it collapsed.

The local media report Reporte Cuauhtémoc reported that experts initially believed that the birds might have died from inhaling toxic fumes or that the birds had come in contact with power cords that were suddenly overloaded.

But the mystery continues to surround the incident, with experts trying to give various explanations for what may have happened. On February 9, the local radio station La Ranchera de Cuauhtemoc reported that some experts believed that the birds had lost stability during the flight and collided with each other.

Other experts have suggested that a predator could have caused the fatal dive. Ecologist Richard Broughton told the Guardian he was almost certain this was the case, as birds of prey, such as the predator, would cause the birds to form a tight swirl and drive them to the ground. The birds that were stuck in the lower areas of the swarm would have fallen right to the ground, he said.

“It looks like a peregrine falcon or hawk is chasing a herd, as they do with the murmuring starlings, and they have been crushed as the herd fell by force,” he told the report. “You can see that they work like a wave in the beginning, like they are being washed up from above.”

And although unusual, this is not the first time such a herd has fallen.

Also last week, some people in Pembrokeshire, Wales, reportedly encountered an “eerie spectacle” with about 200 starlings falling from the sky. A man working in the area told a local outlet that he heard a loud “electric” bang and then “a load of birds landed on my car”.

“It’s like there were hundreds of birds in the sky and they suddenly died and fell to the ground,” he said. “It was very surreal last night to be honest with you – not something I have ever experienced before.”

Another such situation occurred in the Delta of British Columbia in 2018, when about 200 starlings fell to the ground. The Canadian Environment and Climate Change Service later said the herd was being chased by a larger bird, resulting in a flock, and that 42 of the birds were killed as soon as they hit the ground.

In:
• Mexico
• blackbirds