A Kamloops man came across a strange sight on Tuesday, finding numerous dead birds downtown as he headed home from work. But the cause of those deaths may not be as nefarious as one might think.
Image Credit: TWITTER/J.H. @JHcba123
March 02, 2022 - 6:00 PM
A Kamloops man came across a strange sight on Tuesday, finding numerous dead birds downtown as he headed home from work.
But the cause of those deaths may not be as nefarious as one might think.
In a video posted to Twitter, March 1, the man shows 16 small birds strewn about the sidewalk of a building along Columbia Street near he entrance to Peterson Creek — by Sixth Avenue — noting there were even more dead birds the adjacent parking lot, which is part of the compound of empty buildings owned by the provincial government.
The man also noted there was blood coming from one of the birds’s head. While some of the birds were near windows, others were not. The man also speculated the birds may have ingested rat poison.
Kamloops biologist Rick Howie, who is also a member of the local Kamloops Naturalist Club, suggested the bird deaths were the work of physical trauma from attempting to evade a predator.
Howie, who viewed the social media video at KTW’s request, said the deceased birds are Bohemian waxwings, which are common to the Kamloops area. The birds are know to live in large flocks and feed on fruit-bearing trees.
“Sometimes these large flocks can be harassed by a predatory falcon called a merlin,” Howie said. “That can cause the flocks to fly around in great, random swirling and it’s possible that had happened [here] and some of the birds, as they tried to escape, may have hit a building wall or something — that’s one possibility.”
Another possibility, Howie said, is that the birds were eating fermented berries and some were experiencing impaired flight and collided with a window or wall.
Howie said he would be surprised if the cause of death was in fact rat poison because he doesn’t think waxwings would feed on anything containing it, but noted the birds would need to be tested to conclusively rule out poisoning as a possibility.
He said it is common behaviour in large flocks of birds to make wild gyrations in the sky as they try to evade merlin falcons, which are known to nest around Kamloops.
“They [waxwings] create massive swirling, evasive characteristics, so if they’re in town around a bunch of buildings and stuff, it’s probably not unreasonable, if they’re down low, that a few of them would hit a building,” he said.
Howie said the comment regarding one of the birds bleeding could be evidence of the waxwing striking a wall. However, unless an autopsy is conducted on the specimen, it’s not possible to say for sure how the birds died, he noted.
In the Twitter comments, the Canadian Wildlife Health Co-operative suggested the man report the deaths to the province.
KTW has messaged the man for further comment and is awaiting a reply.
To report sick or deceased wildlife go here.
— This story was originally published by Kamloops This Week.
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