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International Society for Infectious Diseases
In this report:
[1], [2] Falkoping, Sweden
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[1] Falkoping, Sweden
Date: Wed 5 Jan 2011
Source: The Local [edited]
A county veterinarian has speculated that the birds that fell from
the sky in central Sweden on Tuesday [4 Jan 2011] may have been
frightened by fireworks, then run over by a car after landing on the
road in the dark. Shortly before midnight on Tuesday, residents found
50 to 100 jackdaws on a street in Falkoping southeast of Skovde. The
incident echoed a number of unexplained incidents earlier this week
across the southern US.
"We have received information from local residents last night. Our
main theory is that the birds were scared away because of the
fireworks and landed on the road, but couldn't fly away from the
stress and were hit by a car," he explained to The Local on Wednesday
[5 Jan 2011]. He added that they likely had difficulty orienting
themselves in the dark and although they have received one report
involving a vehicular collision with the birds, ter Horst believes
they may have been hit by more.
The site where the birds were found has now been blocked for a
veterinary inspection of the birds. Emergency services had cordoned
off the area earlier on Wednesday [5 Jan 2011] .
Anders Wirdheim of the Swedish Ornithological Society (Sveriges
ornitologiska forening, SOF) believes the jackdaws likely were
frightened in the middle of the night, then flew around in the dark
and collided with various objects. "Jackdaws spend the night in trees
in large flocks. If they are frightened, hundreds of birds could take
flight at once," he told TT.
Wirdheim noted that the affected bird species in the [recent mass
bird die-off in Arkansas] US are also those who spend the night in
large flocks. He added that the birds' situation may have aggravated
because they are weakened.
"This winter has been unusually tough and jackdaws may be in poor
condition. That makes it easier for them to fly into different
objects. There is very little food in the wild compared with previous
years and I see dying birds every day," he said.
[Byline: Vivian Tse]
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[2] Falkoping, Sweden
Date: Thu 6 Jan 2011
Source: The Local [edited]
The cause of death of the jackdaws found dead on the streets of
Falkoping, in central Sweden, was external force, not infection or
disease, showed the autopsy completed on Wednesday [5 Jan 2011]. 5 of
the dead birds were autopsied by the National Veterinary Institute,
(Statens veterinarmedicinska anstalt, SVA) and results showed that
the birds had died of acute blunt force.
According to Marianne Elvander, zoologist at SVA, the jackdaws were
killed by severe internal bleeding. None of the birds showed sign of
infection or illness.
"Our assessment is that they weren't carrying any contagious disease,
but figuring out exactly what did kill them, other than being some
sort of external force, is rather outside our area," said Olov
Andersson, SVA's information officer, to TT news agency.
"What comes to mind is that they may have flown up, and been hit, or
something of the sort," he speculated, a theory defended by most experts.
The birds may have been frightened by something in the middle of the
night, flown about blindly, and died in collisions with different
objects in the dark.
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[Jackdaws (Corvus monedul) are dark plumage passerine birds in the
same genus as crows and ravens. They live in large flocks near urban
areas, coming to roost together in trees at night.
Both this Swedish mass bird die-off and the recent incident in
Arkansas over the New Years holiday has been proven to be caused from
trauma. Both incidents show similar patterns in that it happened at
night during extreme weather conditions in birds that roost in big
flocks. When startled, the birds fly off blindly and hit other
objects and crash to the ground. There are possibly more incidents
like this which are unrelated, occurring locally around the world but
are under reported. The international news coverage has raised the
public's awareness, and so more incidents are likely to be reported.
More information about the jackdaw can be found at
For a map of Falkoping, Sweden, see
[see also:
Undiagnosed die-off, avian - USA (02): (AR, LA) 20110105.0055
Undiagnosed die-off, avian - USA: (AR), RFI 20110104.0036
2010
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Undiagnosed die-off, avian - Ukraine: (ZP) wild birds, RFI 20101029.3930
Undiagnosed die-off, avian - Russia: (KX) wild birds, RFI 20101001.3566
2009
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Undiagnosed die-off, avian - USA: (CA) 2007 agent ident. 20090303.0875
Undiagnosed die-off, avian - USA: (CA), RFI 20090109.0093
2008
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Undiagnosed die-off, avian - USA (FL): RFI 20081005.3145
Undiagnosed die-off, swan - UK (02): (Wales), avian influenza
NOT 20080619.1909
2007
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Undiagnosed die-off, avian - USA (multistate) 20070705.2131]
...................kl/mpp/ejp/mpp
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