More Than 11,000 Birds Fall Dead From Montana Sky

More than 11,000 waterfowl and wetland birds have fallen dead from the sky following a dramatic hailstorm that wreaked havoc through the state of Montana earlier on.

As Montanans tend to flattened crops and broken windows damaged by the baseball-sized hail within the area, wildlife biologists working within the eastern part of the state collect “dead ducks and shorebirds with broken wings, smashed skulls, internal damage, and other injuries in line with massive blunt-force trauma,” in keeping with Montana Fish, Wildlife, and Parks.

Images posted by the agency show the shoreline along with Big Lake Wildlife Management Area full of a spread of bird species, while wildlife officials report thousands of additionally injured waterfowl and wetland birds in and around the lake. Nearly one-third of the birds were likely killed or injured during the late summer storm, which had winds reaching up to 112 kilometers per hour (70 miles per hour). FWP wildlife biologist Justin Paugh says that of the living birds observed on the lake, 5 percent of ducks and up to 40 percent of pelicans and cormorants show signs of injury or impaired movement, namely from broken wings and wing feathers.

Big Lake Wildlife Management Area could be a wetland area and seasonal lake that has a nesting area for dozens of migratory shorebirds and waterfowl species, including ducks, geese, cormorants, pelicans, and gulls. a very wet springtime has filled the lake to a part about 4,000 acres.

In all, Paugh reports that up to 13,000 waterfowl and shorebirds were full of the hailstorm, with most of the dead having been blown to shore within the four days following. of these still alive, variety of the birds don't seem to be likely to survive their injuries. Such an outsized number of rotting carcasses has wildlife officials concerned about the potential for diseases to spread and further devastate local bird populations. Avian botulism (Clostridium botulinum), for instance, could be a serious toxin that will end in paralysis and weird behavior that has historically been to blame for widespread bird deaths.

“On a positive note,” said FWP wildlife biologist Justin Paugh in an exceeding statement. “The lake remains covered with waterfowl that are alive and healthy. Life will persist.”

FWP officials say they'll still monitor things.

Last year, the neighboring state of Idaho similarly lost quite 100 geese to a severe spring storm that brought with it golf ball-sized hail, high winds, and intense thunder and lightning.