The Raptor Education Group, a nonprofit organization dedicated to the care and rehabilitation of wild birds, said loons have been seen on land and in small ponds throughout the state.
Loons are described as water birds that typically only go “ashore to mate and incubate eggs.”
So what’s causing them to fall from the sky as they migrate north? The education group said the phenomenon called a loon fallout is the explanation.
“That occurs when atmospheric conditions are such that the migrating loons develop ice on their body as they fly at high altitude and crash land when they are no longer able to fly due to the weight of the ice on their body or the interference with their flight ability,” the education group said in a Facebook post. “The current ice/rain and unstable air currents is a perfect set-up for this phenomena to occur.”
Temperatures dropped in the 30s in parts of Wisconsin, including Wausau, during a cold front earlier this week, according to the National Weather Service. The cold temperatures were mixed with snow, sleet and freezing rain.
Marge Gibson, the co-founder and director of Raptor Education Group, said its center received “at least 25 phone calls” and dozens more Facebook messages Thursday, April 20, about loons discovered on land in Wisconsin, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported.
These birds are more susceptible to icing hazards, as MPR News reported, because “they can’t perch in a tree to wait out a storm. They have to either swim or fly.”
Loons can become stranded when landing on a small body of water because they need a large water runway for takeoff, according to All About Birds.
“Loons cannot walk! They will need your help,” the center said. ”If you find a loon on land or on a road or cow pasture, realize that it cannot walk. Their legs are placed to the back of the bird and are made for swimming and diving, not walking.”
You’re encouraged to call Loon Rescue at 715-966-5415 or the Raptor Education Group at 715-623-4015 if you see a loon on land.
Loons need at least a quarter-mile of open water to get airborne. To transport them, place a blanket over their beaks and place them inside a container with air holes.
“They are very vulnerable on land,” Gibson told the Journal Sentinel. “As tough as they are, they can’t last long if they are in the middle of some field.”
The eerie video has spurred conspiracy theories — but there may be a simple explanation
Strange footage of birds in northern Mexico seemingly just dying and falling from the sky has gone viral. The eerie video appears to be a scene from Alfred Hitchcock’s horror movie “The Birds.” “.
According to NBC News, a security camera captured the video footage of a moment when a massive flock of yellow-headed blackbirds fell from the sky, hitting the pavement en masse in Chihuahua, about 230 miles south of El Paso, Texas. While the footage showed many of the birds flying back upward in a matter of seconds, many were left as corpses on the ground.
Local media released the unsettling video last week; at the time, authorities were unable to identify the reason behind the bird’s untimely demise and peculiar behavior. This, predictably, opened the door for a plethora of conspiracy theories to follow.
Since the video didnt capture a possible collision, speculation is open as to the reason for the mass bird death. Yet scientists have a couple of ideas. The first, and most popular credible theory, is that the birds were running from some sort of predator — like a falcon, hawk or owl.
“The birds really made a mistake with this,” said Kevin J. The Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s McGowan, an ornithologist, told The Washington Post “A really big oops moment. McGowan claimed that it is “the only thing that makes sense” to explain their actions, implying that the birds made a few mistakes during their hasty flight.
To receive weekly updates on health and science stories straight to your inbox, sign up for Salon’s Vulgar Scientist newsletter.
Dr. Richard Broughton, an ecologist with the UK Center for Ecology & Hydrology, told The Guardian that while a predator isnt seen in the footage, hes also 99 percent sure that it caused the eerie behavior from the birds. A predatory bird may have tussled with them mid-air and drove them towards the ground, forcing the ones flying closer to the ground to crash into it.
“It appears that a raptor, such as a hawk or peregrine falcon, has been pursuing a group of birds, similar to how they handle murmurating starlings, and they have crashed when the flock was driven low,” Broughton remarked. “You can observe that in the beginning, they behave like a wave, as though they are being flushed from above.” The word “murmuration” describes a large group of birds flying in a swirling, mass formation; it is frequently used in reference to starlings or other birds that fly in large groups with hundreds or thousands of other birds.
Broughtons theory was supported by Dr. Alexander Lees, a senior lecturer in conservation biology at Manchester Metropolitan University. “I would still say that the most likely cause is the flock murmuring to avoid a predatory raptor and hitting the ground,” he said, based only on one video and without consulting a toxicologist.
The National Audubon Society reports that thousands of yellow-headed blackbirds are frequently spotted flying together.
According to Lees, “there always seems to be a knee-jerk reaction to blame environmental pollutants, but infrastructure collisions are very common.” It is not surprising that such events occur occasionally in a closely packed flock, as the birds follow the movements of the bird in front rather than actually interpreting their wider surroundings.” “.
The world has been agitated by footage of mass bird deaths before. Thousands of birds were discovered inexplicably dead in New Mexico in 2020. Scientists believed the massive die-off may have been caused by the birds’ inability to fly due to malnutrition since they were found emaciated. The birds may have started to migrate before they had enough food stored due to wildfires in California.
In 2019, 225 starlings were found dead on a road in Anglesey, an island in Wales. Similarly, the birds dropped dead from the sky, and became the subject a slew of wild conspiracy theories. Investigators ultimately concluded that “the injuries and death of the birds was caused by the birds striking the tarmac or the nearby bushes, and probably consistent with the birds avoiding either severe weather or a raptor in the area.”
Read more from Salon on environmental concerns:
Nicole Karlis is a senior writer at Salon, specializing in health and science. Tweet her @nicolekarlis.
These birds are more susceptible to icing hazards, as MPR News reported, because “they can’t perch in a tree to wait out a storm. They have to either swim or fly.”
Marge Gibson, the co-founder and director of Raptor Education Group, said its center received “at least 25 phone calls” and dozens more Facebook messages Thursday, April 20, about loons discovered on land in Wisconsin, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported.
Loons are described as water birds that typically only go “ashore to mate and incubate eggs.”
“On land, they are extremely vulnerable,” Gibson stated to the Journal Sentinel. Even though they are resilient, they cannot endure for very long if they are in the middle of a field. ”.
The education group stated on Facebook that the migratory loons experience this when atmospheric conditions cause them to develop ice on their bodies while they are flying at high altitudes and crash land when the weight of the ice on their bodies interferes with their ability to fly. “Unstable air currents and the existing ice/rain create the ideal conditions for this phenomenon to occur.” ”.
FAQ
Why did hundreds of birds fall from the sky?
What does it mean when you see a bird fall from the sky?
What happened to the black birds?
What happened to the birds in Arkansas?