Update: ABC2 News may have an answer.

Drivers were gingerly making their way down West Burke Avenue on Thursday afternoon through dozens of dead birds. The starlings (thanks to reader Christoph Amberger for pointing out what they were) lay dead or dying in the road in front of the

Similar deaths occurred around New Year's Eve last year in the southeast and elsewhere, according to National Geographic (hat-tip to The Baltimore Sun's Steve Earley for pointing that article out). Investigators in Arkansas determined birds there died from blunt-force trauma—collisions with cars, walls, trees or other objects. Investigators suggested New Year's fireworks may have had something to do with it, according to the report.