KENTUCKY TOWN BESIEGED BY MILLIONS OF BIRDS

courtesy : HuffPost

Kentucky seems to be where the birds want to be.  But why?

Without a warning or a hint, millions of blackbirds and starlings have invaded a small Kentucky town.  

There are so many in fact, that the whole town is turning white with bird poop.  And if that were not enough, the bird droppings are bringing with them unwanted diseases that can affect humans and dogs.

This could all be due to global warming.  Yes that oft-repeated word seems to be pertinent to this quandary too.  

And that's because the birds are switching migratory patterns, and no longer need to fly to more southern locales, due to the increasingly warm winter weather.  

In fact the roosting habit are programmed to a specific climatologic pattern. They roost south of wherever the ground is frozen solid for obvious reasons.  But now, since there is less and less night frost, they are able to feed in more northern latitudes.

The birds of course have no intention of attacking humans, but they are present in such numbers that they are causing a whole lot of issues.  And the citizens want them gone.  

One of the methods employed is loud banging and explosions to scare the birds away.  Unfortunately the racket is harming pets along with the birds.  And many say it's just a temporary fix.  The birds just move out for a while and come back when it's quiet again.

In the meantime, the little town seems to have gotten their share of snow, only it's the maleodorant, sticky, corrosive kind. Every tree, and car, and home and every standing object, has been turned bone white by the flying masses. 

But how can the birds be blamed? Temperatures in the little hamlet and surrounding areas has barely grazed the freezing mark this winter.  And that means the birds feel right at home.

But all the poop does have its consequences.  It carries a fungus called histoplasmosis, which can kill dogs and make people very sick with pneumonia like symptoms.  In addition, the organism that causes the symptoms can survive in the soil for long periods of time.  And that can cause pets and people to get sick again.  

Partial sourcing; Daily mail 2.23.13./ Reuters 2.24.13