Hundreds of yellow-headed blackbirds have fallen out of the sky and died in northern Mexico in an unexplained phenomenon.
The incident occurred on the morning of 7th February and the chilling footage of the flock falling to their deaths was captured on CCTV.
According to local newspaper El Heraldo de Chihuahua, the carcasses of the birds were strewn across the street in Cuauhtémoc city, but the cause of death remains unclear.
Some birds survived, and took flight once again.
WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT \n\nSecurity footage shows a flock of yellow-headed blackbirds drop dead in the northern Mexican state of Chihuahuapic.twitter.com/mR4Zhh979K— Reuters (@Reuters) 1644808200
The birds migrate from northern Canada each year to spend the winter further south, but The Independent reports that air pollution may have impacted them due to an increase in wood-burning heaters, agrochemicals and low temperatures in the region.
It has also been suggested that they may have inhaled toxic smoke, or may have been electrocuted after standing on power lines.
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Experts told The Guardian that the mass casualty was likely caused by an unseen predatory bird.
Dr Richard Broughton, an ecologist with the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, told The Guardian: “This looks like a raptor like a peregrine or hawk has been chasing a flock, like they do with murmurating starlings, and they have crashed as the flock was forced low.
“You can see that they act like a wave at the beginning, as if they are being flushed from above.”
Since the footage went viral, some social media users baselessly blamed 5G, while other social media users likened the clip to a scene from a horror movie.
Sadly this isn’t the first time in recent weeks large numbers of birds have fallen from the sky.
Just last week in Wales, approximately 200 birds were found dead between Waterson and Hazelbeach in Pembrokeshire.
Bird expert Dominic Couzens told Mail Online: “They were probably startled by something, maybe a loud bang.
“Something unexpected made them disorientated and then they flew into something.”
He added: “It’s very odd. It’s very strange. It’s not something that’s easily explained.”
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