Mystery over dead pigeons

Mystery over dead pigeons

27 July 2016

MYSTERY surrounds the death of a number of pigeons at the Churchtown Road in Ballyculter last weekend.

John Hanna was returning home from his night shift at 7.30am last Sunday when he spotted around 14 dead birds scattered along the hedgerow, in nearby fields and along the roadside. He said all of the birds were intact and it was clear they had not been attacked by a fox.

“There wasn’t a mark on any of the birds and there was no blood which would have signalled they had been attacked. While I counted 14 dead pigeons there may have been others carried away by foxes,” he continued.

“I don’t believe someone drove to the area and scattered the birds about the place because of the position 

they were in. It really is a mystery what happened.”

“If the pigeons were attacked by a predator you would expect to see evidence of this, but there was nothing, not even a of blood. It appears that the for whatever reason, the pigeons simply fell from the sky. I have no idea why,” continued Mr Hanna.

“I believe whatever happened took place shortly before I arrived at this part of the Churchtown Road. If it had happened earlier the pigeons may have been eaten or taken away by other animals. I did see a fox cross the road in front of me, but don’t believe it was involved. There is simply no way it could have snared a pigeon, let alone 14 of them.”

Experts suggest that birds falling from the sky may sound unusual, but it is a fairly common occurrence. They say there have been many account of flocks of birds falling, unexplained, from the sky and that each case is different, with scientists indicating several different potential causes, including collisions, weather conditions, disease, and climate change. 

Last year, there were reports of hundreds of dead pigeons being discovered along a three mile flightpath between Glenann and Glendon, with local reports suggesting the cause of death was due to some form of avian disease.

As for what happened in Ballyculter last weekend, Mr Hanna says he has no answers and remains perplexed about what apparently caused so many pigeons to fall out of the sky.

He added: “Maybe there is someone out there who knows what might have happened. I would really love to know, given there wasn’t so much as scratch of the pigeons I found. It really is a mystery.”