A flock of about 150 starlings died around 9 a.m. this Friday, November 26. Reportedly, the flock of birds was flying in one direction and then suddenly all the birds fell into the street Callecalde Quintanilla Martinez in the Caranza area of the municipality of A Coruña of Ferrol.
This incredible incident caused birds to fall on cars parked on the street and even on pedestrians passing by in the area of the Ribera Juan Cardano Hospital. Residents quickly alerted the local police in Ferrol, who sent a patrol to this Galician neighborhood.
They were accompanied by an environmental technician from Xunta as well as technicians from a company that performs bird control services for the Ferrol Environmental Department. Together they proceeded to remove a dead flock of individuals of the common starling, Sturnus vulgaris.
Among the fallen birds, five were found still alive but unable to fly. They were handed over to the Xunta Wildlife Restoration Center, located in Oleiros, A Coruña. Meanwhile, the Ferrol City Council and Xunta are cooperating in an effort to determine the cause of the deaths of these birds.
As noted by the local government, the Ferrola Bird Control Company discovered last Thursday, the 25th, a small flock of about 30 starlings in the university area, although the area where these dead and injured individuals appeared “is not a previously cataloged roost, and no notification of the presence of starlings has previously been received.”