Sudden fowl fatalities bring a new bird mystery to San Francisco Bay Area

SAN FRANCISCO – In the classical movie “The Birds,’’ flocks of crows and different taxon abruptly and viciously onslaught radical for nary evident reason. Now different Bay Area-based enigma has emerged involving avian creatures, though this clip they’re the ones successful danger.

Residents of East Richmond Heights, an East Bay assemblage little than 15 miles from San Francisco, person reported successful caller weeks expanding numbers of birds dropping dormant to the crushed from powerfulness lines. Popping sounds akin to firecrackers person been heard moments earlier the birds' deaths.

A motion attached to a woody rod successful the country of the incidents says, “Over 50 birds person died + proceed to dice present aft landing connected the apical powerfulness line,’’ but it’s not wide the energy wires person thing to bash with the fowl fatalities.

Neighbors person recovered carcasses successful their yards and connected the street, creating an eerie feeling and increasing alarm, not improbable the absorption from locals successful the 1963 suspense play from acclaimed manager Alfred Hitchcock, acceptable mostly successful the Sonoma County municipality of Bodega Bay.

Maximillian Bolling of Richmond told KGO-TV, an ABC affiliate successful San Francisco, that helium has seen a fig of birds abruptly plummet to their demise, and that betwixt himself and neighbors they person spotted astatine slightest 13 of their corpses.

Plummeting to a 'really violent' death

“So erstwhile they onshore and it happens, they conscionable rapidly detonate and it’s truly violent,’’ helium told the station.

The California Department of Fish and Wildlife said it’s investigating aft residents raised concerns the birds mightiness person been electrocuted. In a connection to USA TODAY, the section said it examined 2 dormant birds – a mourning dove and a European starling – sent successful by Northern California vigor supplier PG&E.

The DFW laboratory unit “found nary signs of electrocution successful the collected birds,’’ the connection said. “The birds did amusement injuries accordant with trauma that could perchance person been caused by pellet gun, BB weapon oregon a slingshot.’’

Photos of different birds from that determination besides showed traumatic injuries, the section said, adding that it couldn’t find their cause.

That raises the anticipation of idiosyncratic intentionally harming the birds, and the Contra Costa County sheriff’s section has been notified.

PG&E validated, but immoderate inactive skeptical

The DFW investigation seems to validate PG&E’s contention that it’s not astatine responsibility successful this matter, though neighbors expressed skepticism to KGO, questioning whether a BB weapon could marque a firecracker-like dependable oregon a shooter could show specified accordant accuracy.

The inferior has yet to regain the spot of galore radical successful Northern California aft its instrumentality acceptable disconnected devastating wildfires successful the region successful caller years.

Nonetheless, spokesperson Tamar Sarkissian said the institution appreciated its customers’ concerns for the birds.

“PG&E does not judge that determination was an contented with our electrical instrumentality and agrees that these birds were not electrocuted,’’ she said successful a statement, adding that, “The rod astatine contented is compliant with avian harmless guidance, arsenic established by the Avian Powerline Interaction Committee.’’

This nonfiction primitively appeared connected USA TODAY: Fowl fatalities bring a caller vertebrate enigma to San Francisco Bay Area