RailRoadFan.com

Apparently, a lot if interest in a LOT of dead birds along railroad track in Springfield, Michigan, which is on CN near Battle Creek. Looking at the photo, it appears as if all the dead birds are along only one of the two tracks.

http://www.freep.com/story/news/local/m ... /81850438/

Anyone have an educated guess as to the cause? Doubtful that it was close encounters with really fast moving trains.

Seems to me they likely ate or breathed something very toxic which killed them on the spot.

Yes I have an educated guess. They ate something very toxic that was leaked there or placed there. Probably something with strychnine (fly bait) in it. Most critters make it only inches if even that after they ingest it. It is toxic to crows. No proof but I have seen similar cases in person. Also works great at keeping coons out of the sweet corn patch when mixed with some syrupy sweet cola. Or at least that's what I heard.

300 crows in 200 yards is a lot o crows!
Perhaps someone got tired of being woke up every morning. Crows are smart. There is a flock of them in my neighborhood. They wake me up many mornings jawing at each other. And they are smart. They watch for people to put out their trash on pickup day, then fly down and tear the bags apart. I wait until I see the truck coming down the street and run out with my bag o trash!
I used to shoot bottle rockets up into the trees to run them off to someone elses yard!

I can tell you the cause of death: Blunt Force Trauma.....meeting the front end of a P42 at 79 mph will do that to you....talked to the engineer who 'witnessed' these events as it happened twice, with the first time it caused damage--both rear view mirrows were broke--to the engine....Amtrak and the DEQ have had chats already about this event...and yes I know, crows are smart and generally not prone to getting hit by a locomotive, but it's not the first time it's happened...

NYCMan wrote: http://www.freep.com/story/news/local/m ... /81850438/

Anyone have an educated guess as to the cause? Doubtful that it was close encounters with really fast moving trains.

This guy has a guess:

Dennis Brian Smith ·
University of Michigan

The first thing they need to look at is whatever exfoliant the railway applies to the rail bed.

I would say that spilled grain from a covered hopper along the ballast and then a fast moving passenger train comes along and WHAMMO!
Going to the Amtrak engineer in the above story of course but its simple as that IMHO.
If there had been a spray train/truck you folks would have SURELY seen and reported it.
Gotta say though, in all my freight train rides at 50MPH we never whacked a flock of birds...a deer or three but even they USUALLY jumped out of the way.
And don't call me Shirley........

We used to use a granular chemical on the farm as a fungicide. It was died bright purple so you could see it when injected under ground. I believe it was called Furidan, sometimes when you got to the end of the corn row while planting the chemical would leak out of the applicator hose on top of the ground. Sparrows loved the color of it and would eat it immediately, unfortunately you would find them dead the next day. No sign of trauma just like they sat on the ground to take a nap and never woke up.

NYCMan wrote:Apparently, a lot if interest in a LOT of dead birds along railroad track in Springfield, Michigan, which is on CN near Battle Creek.

This actually occurred on the Amtrak (MDOT)/Norfolk Southern line, near Helmer and Lafayette roads in the city of Springfield.

A good reminder with this story, "As the crow flies" isn't always the safest route to take.

NS also runs through Springfield and if the birds were hit by an Amtrak, it would have been on the NS.

J T wrote:A good reminder with this story, "As the crow flies" isn't always the safest route to take.

I would say some of you are correct. The autopsy showed that they likely died from being hit by a train. Under ordinary conditions crows seldom exceed 20 to 30 mph speed in flight with short bursts attaining 60 mph. 60 is not 79. Its a shame the woman isn't smart and intelligent like a crow. Nothing like good ole trespassing.

That's interesting since last Summer I read a BBC article that pointed out common birds (crows, sparrows, robins, etc.) are aware of a road's speed limit. Maybe the birds were new to the area and hadn't read the HIGH SPEED TRAINS sign.

The DNR has concluded that the 400-500 dead crows were all hit by a train:

http://wwmt.com/news/local/dnr-official ... t-by-train