HOWARD COUNTY, Md. (WJZ) — Hundreds of dead birds rain down on I-95, blindsiding drivers in Howard County. Now Natural Resources officials are trying to figure out what caused the mass deaths.

Kai Jackson has more on the unusual commute.

State animal experts have an idea of what happened to the birds, but there is still some mystery here and they hope to unravel it.

A strange sight on the I-95 northbound in Laurel. Hundreds of dead birds were scattered on the road.

“I travel this all the time. I never seen anything like this before,” said one driver.

The Maryland Department of Natural Resources says the birds are starlings. It appears they ran into traffic. While that act is unusual, authorities say starlings themselves are common in this area.

“Something like this, I can’t think of any precautionary measures. A flock of birds running into traffic, it doesn’t happen too often,” said DNR Wildlife biologist Patricia Allen.

At this time, the Department of Natural Resources believes the starlings may have flown into a truck and, as small and delicate as they are, that kind of impact would be enough to kill them. It appears the birds died from blunt force trauma.

The State Highway Department had to use shovels to remove the birds from the road.

“So if the first one runs into it, unfortunately, the rest follow and with a large vehicle such as tractor trailers, it would account for the mass mortality,” Allen said.

Traffic was tied up on I-95 for several hours.