Fireworks may have caused bird deaths

Scientists believe a New Year's Eve firework display may have caused thousands of birds to fall from the sky over a US town.

Officials say more than 3,000 red-winged blackbirds fell over the city of Beebe, Arkansas, reports the BBC.

Karen Rowe, of the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, said the birds probably flew low to avoid explosions and collided with objects.

"The blackbirds were flying at rooftop level instead of treetop level," said Ms Rowe, "blackbirds have poor eyesight, and they started colliding with things."

However, she stopped short of declaring the mystery solved, saying further tests on the dead birds are planned.

Birds were "littering the streets, the yards, the driveways, everywhere," said Robby King, a county wildlife officer.

"It was hard to drive down the street in some places without running over them."

Initial laboratory reports said the birds had died from trauma, the AGFC said.

Residents reported hearing loud fireworks just before the birds started raining from the sky. The few that survived their fall stumbled around like drunken revellers, witnesses said.

"They started going crazy, flying into one another," said AGFC spokesman Keith Stephens.