What's Behind The Dead Birds of Texas? Whatever The Reason, It Pretty Much Has To Be Dire

Regular (well, I assume she's regular in a rather bizarrely irregular sorta way, but it's very possible she's constipated as well) reader Sharon happened to mention Texas is having a problem with dead birds. However, I wasn't quite prepared for what I just read at Preemptive Karma.

After last week's sudden, inexplicable die-off of scores of birds in Austin, Texas, reports yesterday of a massive die-off of song birds around the town of Esperance in Western Australia are getting people rather spooked. Hundreds of carcasses have been found over the past three weeks and now every bird in the area appears to be dead. Autopsies have found no infectious cause. All over the world it seems that people who are already traumatized by unusual weather and unsettling world events are taking an acute interest in the phenomenon.

Several bloggers have posted the story, and the comments being received are both conspiratorial and hilariously funny. Fishgrease at the Daily Kos asks whether the birds are the proverbial canary in the coal mine and notes that around his own home he has noticed a conspicuous absence of birds this winter. So he's asking readers to participate in a survey telling where they live and whether they have noticed any change in bird population.

On Atlas Shrugs, several readers are subscribing to the notion that the bird kills are the result of terrorism:

Maybe the terrorists are doing some dry runs. This could be a result of the "peace dividend" that our new congress brings to the fore.

If the Islamic terrorists think we're going to wimp out in Iraq (they may not be wrong in this), of course they'll see it as weakness and move to his the U.S. for appeasing the Islamic terrorists themselves.

When it comes to the diabolical devious plans of those Islamofacists who want us dead, nothing should be taken for granted.

We should react as if it's intentional.

Ideas anyone?

This can't be good, regardless of the explanation. Notice I'm not even tendering one of my rather nasty comments about Texas, that's how much shit I think we may be in with this.