Mystery as sparrows drop dead

Hundreds of sparrows littered New Plymouth’s main street yesterday, shocking business owners arriving at work and baffling a bird expert.

The drenched birds were dropping like flies from two trees on the Hill on Devon St West after a deluge of rain.

Autopsies will be done on some of the dead birds to determine if the birds were poisoned.

The Shampoo Shop and Salon owners Jane Moodie and Jan Bocock said waterlogged birds lined their shop front as they arrived at work about 8.15am.

“When I first arrived I thought they were rats and told my partner to go and get rid of them,” Ms Moodie said.

“There was just heaps of them. I’ve never seen anything like it,” Ms Moodie said.

She telephoned the New Plymouth District Council to advise them what was happening.

Ornithologist David Medway was baffled.

“They have been in those trees for a long time and they don’t usually fall out,” Mr Medway said.

“It is rather strange that some should die and others were fine after they had dried out.”

He believed the deaths could have been a “natural phenomenon” caused by the heavy rain.

NPDC enforcement manager Lloyd Crow said a council contractor collected the bodies of the dead birds.

Mr Crow said he would be getting the dead bodies tested to see if they had been poisoned.

“At this point in time I am intending on getting some samples of the bodies autopsied by a vet.”