Conspiracies Don’t Kill Birds. People, However, Do.

Danny Vowell/Kentucky New Era, via Associated Press

By LESLIE KAUFMAN
Published: January 17, 2011

At the beginning of this month when about 5,000 red-winged blackbirds fell from the sky in one night in Arkansas, biologists were called on to put a damper on public speculation about pesticides and secret military tests by reminding everyone how many birds there are and how many die. They often do so as a result of human activity, but in far more mundane and dispiriting ways than conspiracy buffs might imagine.

[b]“Five billion birds die in the U.S. every year,â€