Seth Borenstein on the odd events of the mass blackbirds that fell out of the sky and other mass animal deaths:
On average, 163 such events are reported to the federal government each year, according to USGS records. And there have been much larger die-offs than the 3,000 blackbirds in Arkansas. Twice in the summer of 1996, more than 100,000 ducks died of botulism in Canada.
I don’t know whether I should be reassured by this, or even more troubled by this.