But why would this affect just red-winged blackbirds and not other birds?

> Dear ECOLOG-L Members,
>
> I have an ornithologist friend who works for the Dept. of the Environment
> in
> D.C., and in a recent correspondence I asked for his opinion on the mass
> bird kills in the news. Here is his reply for any who are interested.
>
> "The red-winged blackbird and other species kills were most likely
> microbursts and windshear associated with the storm system which had moved
> through earlier. Microbursts can have wind gusts between 60 and 120 miles
> an
> hour, that would create plenty of force to mimic hurricane conditions and
> do
> some real trauma. Is was not disease or some type of contamination. You
> can
> see a few birds staggering around with broken wings on the news videos. I
> believe the birds were either crushed in the air of forced downward with
> enough energy to kill them. I don’t buy the firework theory. If it were
> true
> we would have giant bird kill problems every July 4th."
>
> Cheers,
>
> Evan D. Clark
>
> On Mon, Jan 3, 2011 at 12:53 PM, J. Michael Nolan <
> [email protected]> wrote:
>
>> List Members....
>>
>> Apologies for cross-posting.
>>
>> Interesting story for all Ecologists, Biologists......
>> http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-12105157
>>
>> Really do hate it when people use the term "Blackbird" and will tell you
>> why, should want to hear.
>>
>> By the way, this is the first Bird sp. to migrate north in the Spring.
>>
>> Obviously, we have seen this before and will be curious about any
>> follow-ups to this. Typical media usually does a poor job of following
>> up,
>> unless it is that will catch our attention.
>>
>> Thank you and have a great week.
>>
>> Mike Nolan
>>
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>>
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>>
>> Sincerely,
>>
>> J. Michael Nolan, Director
>>
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