Blackbirds are having hard time staying alive in the U.S. southeast.

Just a few days after 3,000 blackbirds fell from the sky in Arkansas, about 450 birds dropped to their death in Louisiana, littering a half-kilometre stretch of highway near Baton Rouge in rural Pointe Coupee Parish.

Louisiana’s state wildlife veterinarian says at least some of the birds that died near Baton Rouge may have flown into a power line.

The grackles, starlings, brown-headed cowbirds and red-winged blackbirds had broken beaks and backs, Jim LaCour said Tuesday. Some live birds had broken wings but ran too fast to catch, he said.

Officials say such massive wildlife kills are not uncommon.

About 450 kilometres to the north of the latest incident, scientists in Arkansas said celebratory fireworks on New Year’s Eve in Beebe likely sent thousands of discombobulated blackbirds into such a tizzy that they crashed into homes, cars and each other before plummeting to their deaths.

Still, officials acknowledged it’s unlikely they’ll ever pinpoint a cause with certainty.

“There was probably some physical reason, but I doubt anyone will ever know what it was,” said Thurman Booth, the state’s wildlife services director.

While officials examine the carcasses of the birds found in Arkansas for signs of disease and labs test the contents of their stomachs for toxins, the tale of the blackbirds’ tumble is quickly turning into the stuff of local legend.

The blackbirds rained onto rooftops and sidewalks and into fields. One struck a woman walking her dog. Another hit a police cruiser. Some say an umbrella was one resident’s only protection from the falling birds.

Birds were “littering the streets, the yards, the driveways, everywhere,” said Robby King, a county wildlife officer in Beebe, a community of 5,000 northeast of Little Rock. “It was hard to drive down the street in some places without running over them.”

A few stunned survivors stumbled around like drunken partiers.

There was little light across the countryside at the time, save for the glimmer of fireworks and some lightning on the horizon. In the tumult, many birds probably lost their bearings.

“The blackbirds were flying at rooftop level instead of treetop level” to avoid explosions above, said Karen Rowe, an ornithologist with the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission. “Blackbirds have poor eyesight, and they started colliding with things.”

Shane Roberts said it sounded like hail pelting his house.

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“I turn and look across my yard, and there’s all these lumps,” Roberts said.

For some people, the scene unfolding shortly before midnight evoked images of the apocalypse and cut short New Year's celebrations. Many families phoned police instead of popping champagne.