Birds dropping dead in Tenn. neighborhood

CLARKSVILLE, Tenn., Feb. 25 (UPI) -- Scientists are trying to determine why red-winged blackbirds, grackles and other birds have been dying in northwest Tennessee.

Scores of carcasses have been found in a neighborhood in Clarksville on the Kentucky border, The Leaf Chronicle of Clarksville reported. Large flocks of birds gather in the neighborhood, attracted by a horse pond.

Pamela Holz, president of a homeowners association near Interstate 24, said one area resident counted 61 dead birds in one day. She said everyone is curious about the cause.

"There are dead birds all over the road," she said.

One theory is that a power line running through the neighborhood is responsible. Dale Grandstaff, an officer with the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency, said birds are often so close together when they take off that electricity jumping from a transformer to one bird could continue through the flock.

"If you look at it, almost all the birds that are dead are under those power lines, so that could've had something to do with it," Grandstaff said.

About 10 of the carcasses were sent to a laboratory in Nashville to determine if a cause of death could be found, Grandstaff said.