A lake in
Montana, US, bore witness to death on a biblical scale after thousands of birds
fell to the ground.
The Big Lake
Wildlife Management Area west of Molt was covered in carcasses and injured
birds after a devastating hailstorm at the weekend (August 17/18).
As residents
in the area recovered from the ‘baseball-sized hail’ that flattened crops and
smashed windows, Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks (FWP) were picking up
pelicans, cormorants and other birds that suffered at the hands of Mother
Nature.
A press
release from FWP said biologists were collecting ‘dead ducks and other
shorebirds with broken wings, smashed skulls, internal damage and other
injuries consistent with massive blunt-force trauma’.
FWP wildlife
biologist Justin Paugh estimates that around a third of the birds at the lake –
between 11,000 and 13,000 – were either killed or injured in the storm, which
was reported to be propelled by 70mph winds.
Of the birds
still alive at the lake, Paugh estimates ‘five percent of ducks on the lake and
30 percent to 40 percent of living pelicans and cormorants show some sign of
injury or impaired movement – mostly broken wings and broken wing feathers’ and
that many will likely not survive their injuries.
Big Lake
Wildlife Management Area is a seasonal lake with shallow waters that functions
as a nesting area for dozens of species, including but not limited to Canada
geese, double-crested cormorants, shorebirds, gulls, pelicans and other
waterfowl.
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