canons from new year's eve celebrations. bird experts tell us that could be the reason for the bizarre behavior, noting around the summer, fourth of july, black birds are usually spread out and in breeding mode and aren't clustered together like they are in the winter. i just got off the phone with the spokesperson from the u.s. geological survey who says a sen of their records show there have been 16 events in the past 30 years involving black birds where at least 1000 birds died at the same time, other noteworthy cases, last week, about 100 miles away from beebe, arkansas, 100,000 dead and drying drum fish washed up along a 20-mile stretch of the arkansas river. then last year, along the california coast, there was an alarming number of sea lions dead or sick in monterey, marine biologists there believe that was due to a food shortage, test results continue to be run on the dead birds to check for toxins, viruses or bacteria to make sure they've got the right cause