blackbirds dead in the dead of night

 Just pointing out, perhaps unwisely, that the following events reported by the New York Times occurred less than 100 miles (slightly north of the beetle), as the crow, er, used to fly, from a certain demesne in Missouri:
 Times Square had the ball drop, but no place had a New Year’s Eve as freakishly disturbing as Beebe, Ark. Around 11 that night, thousands of red-winged blackbirds began falling out of the sky. They landed on roofs, roads, front lawns and backyards, turning the ground nearly black. “One of them almost hit my best friend in the head,” said Christy Stephens, who was standing outside among the smoking crowd at a party. “We went inside after that.”. . . State scientists believe one thing to be almost certain: that the bird deaths were not related to the roughly 85,000 fish that died a few days before near Ozark, in the western part of the state, the biggest fish kill in Arkansas that anyone can remember. They were spotted by anglers along the Arkansas River last week and reported to the Game and Fish Commission, which spent New Year’s Eve measuring and counting dead fish that had spread out for nearly 20 miles.
Meanwhile roughly 500 dead birds were found on Monday outside New Roads, La. Those birds were much more varied, with starlings and grackle in addition to blackbirds.
Hmm. "Experts say" that such things do occasionally happen, but one can't but feel that those who talk about malevolent government forces and the end times have, if not reason, at least not total nutcaseness on their side.
   The latest here in Baton Rouge  and the Times. And a new link from Google Maps.