Giant Flock Of Birds Killed In Galveston

GALVESTON, TX — It must have been an awful sight: Nearly 400 birds lying lifeless on the ground around the American National Insurance building in Galveston, a colorful carpet of death. That's what workers found on Thursday morning in this coastal Texas city, as reported by KHOU.

Josh Henderson, an officer with the Galveston Police Department's Animal Services Unit, said the majority of the dead birds were orioles and warblers.

According to authorities, the birds had probably migrated across the Gulf of Mexico for the season, and heavy winds and rain likely forced them to fly closer to the ground than they would normally have done. The building's lighting added to their confusion, said Richard Gibbons, of the Houston Audubon Society.

"We encourage building administrators to turn those lights out," Gibbons told KHOU. "It is less of an attraction to avoid collisions."

Workers found three surviving birds among the hundreds of dead ones, and they will be treated at the Wildlife Center of Texas. The dead birds will be studied and add to researchers' knowledge of the health of the Gulf's avian migratory population.

— Image: American National Insurance building (flickr/Curt Littlejohn)