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Massena woman concerned after finding 20 dead birds in yard; DEC investigating

Posted 10/4/12

The DEC thinks dead birds found in Massena might be starlings MASSENA – A Massena woman is concerned about having found 20 or more dead birds in her back yard, and after speaking with authorities …

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Massena woman concerned after finding 20 dead birds in yard; DEC investigating

Posted

The DEC thinks dead birds found in Massena might be starlings

MASSENA – A Massena woman is concerned about having found 20 or more dead birds in her back yard, and after speaking with authorities in the U.S. and Canada she does not yet know why.

Calls to the authorities have not yet resulted in an explanation, although the Department of Environmental Conservation is looking into it.

"We are waiting for some information back from her to see if testing is warranted," said DEC Region 6 spokesman Stephen Litwhiler.

"It sounds like the birds are starlings and she lives among some big farms. There may have been some starling control done on these farms, which is legal. They are unprotected and often a nuisance on farms. We are checking on that possibility," Litwhiler said.

The woman, who asked that her name not be included in this story, said her dog brought her a dead bird on Tuesday, “the second dead bird in two days. I thought it was odd and proceeded to the back yard to see if I could find out what was going on. To my shock, there were about 20 dead or dying birds in my back yard. One fell out of the tree while I was there, flapping its wings, dying.”

The Massena woman’s primary concern, aside from the immediate cause, is to see if any other people in the area have seen any phenomena similar to the die-off of tens of birds in her yard.