Hundreds of yellow-headed parrots suddenly fell from the sky in Mexico, with dozens of them dead, scattered across the streets.
The police received a call at 8:30 AM on February 7, after residents reported dead birds lying scattered on the sidewalks in the Alvaro Obregon area of Cuauhtemoc city, Chihuahua state.
In a video recorded by CCTV and shared on social media, hundreds of yellow-headed parrots suddenly plummeted from the sky; many flew away, but dozens lay dead on the streets. Local residents began noticing the flock of parrots, which typically migrate from Canada to Mexico in the winter, falling down at around 5 AM.
Another video filmed on the same day showed the birds lying motionless on the street as someone swept them into a pile with a broom.
The local newspaper El Heraldo de Chihuahua reported that a veterinarian examined the dead birds and suggested the cause might be due to inhaling toxic smoke, possibly from heating sources, or being electrocuted after getting caught in power lines.
Hundreds of yellow-headed parrots suddenly fell from the sky.
Some social media viewers speculated that the incident could be due to the defensive mechanism of the flock when encountering a predator not going as planned. In the video, the parrots were flying together when they suddenly changed direction to distract the hunters.
“It seems the lead bird got confused, the dead birds appear to have collided with the ground, while some survived and flew back up,” commented one user.
This viewpoint was echoed by Dr. Richard Broughton, an ecologist at the UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology. Broughton told The Guardian that although he did not see a bird of prey in the video, he was 99% certain that a predator caused the incident, catching the parrots’ defensive mechanism off guard.
“This is really alarming, and it’s not the first time I’ve read about similar incidents happening around the world,” commented another user.
The bodies of the birds have been collected and taken for examination to determine the exact cause.
