Dozens of birds fall out of the sky in Tsawwassen; wildlife officials investigate

It’s not something you see every day; dozens of birds falling out of the sky.

Vancouver resident Kevin Beech said that’s what he saw last Friday near the BC Ferries terminal in Tsawwassen.

“Just caught it in the corner of my eye, I said ‘what the hell is that,’ they literally, like suicide birds, just straight down,” Beech said. “They fly in these swarms and they literally go face first into the pavement. It was like raining birds.”

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Beech said it was a horrible sight.

“It was like an Alfred Hitchcock movie, you know The Birds, it was really creepy, dead birds everywhere, little pools of blood under them, there were little guys twitching,” Beech said.

It’s not clear what caused the birds to die or if it was a result of falling to the ground.

Environment Canada migratory bird biologist Laurie Wilson said an investigation is underway. She calls it a rare “mortality event.”

“Our collaborators who investigated said they had picked up about 40 birds,” Wilson said. “I haven’t actually seen the birds yet, we can’t comment yet on what species is involved. We do get bird mortalities from time to time but we can’t tell the cause of death until the birds are tested.”

Wilson said the birds have been sent to a lab for testing.