Thousands of migrating birds crashed throughout Southern Utah late Monday night, resulting in a marathon rescue and collection effort that is still underway…
…Wildlife officials said thousands of grebes – a duck-like aquatic bird – were likely migrating toward Mexico and probably mistook the parking lot of the Cedar City Walmart and other areas as far south as Anderson’s Junction for bodies of water. Thinking they were landing to rest atop a pond or lake, the grebes plummeted to the ground.
“The storm clouds over the top of the city lights made it look like a nice, flat body of water. All the conditions were right,” Griffin said. “So the birds landed to rest, but ended up slamming into the pavement.”
…Though thousands of the birds were killed, officials said they began collecting survivors around 12 a.m. Tuesday and had rescued more than 2,000 as of Tuesday evening.
Full Story via: The Spectrum