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Officials investigating after birds drop out of the sky in Tsawwassen

It was a scene straight out of an Alfred Hitchcock movie. Last Friday, Sept. 14, witnesses were shocked to see birds, believed to be European starlings, plunge to the ground near the BC Ferries terminal in Tsawwassen.
Dead birds
Officials from Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) are still investigating the cause of the mortality incident with its network of partner organizations.

It was a scene straight out of an Alfred Hitchcock movie.

Last Friday, Sept. 14, witnesses were shocked to see birds, believed to be European starlings, plunge to the ground near the BC Ferries terminal in Tsawwassen.

It is still unclear whether the birds were dead before they hit the ground.

Officials from Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) are still investigating the cause of the mortality incident with its network of partner organizations.

“ECCC enforcement’s officers have collected 42 starlings and are in the process of getting them to the BCMAL Animal Health Lab for post-mortem examination,” said the agency in a media statement provided to the Optimist. “We need to conduct a necropsy to ascertain cause of death. A preliminary diagnosis will be available in the coming weeks.”

Delta’s Orphaned Wildlife Rehab is one of the partner organizations with the ECCC.

OWL’s Rob Hope said they got a call about the incident and sent one of their volunteers to the scene to recover the bodies.

“For that many birds and that species of birds being a European starling and not a migratory bird – for that many to drop in one fell swoop, it could be some sort of poison, but it’s really hard to say – it’s all speculation,” said Hope. “Because the birds were in good body condition it makes it even more puzzling.”

Hope said he has personally never seen anything like this.

“It’s very rare for that many to go down that fast especially being the species that it is,” he added.