of birds

Quick shot of the seagulls lining Georgetown's waterfront in Washington DC.

Something weird is apparently happening in the DC area: people are reporting many dead birds -- in numbers that exceed anything one could expect.  Various scientists are trying to figure out an explanation and some current guesses range from death by cicadas (overeating them!) to the birds being poisoned by the insecticides people are apparently using on cicadas (why oh why!?) to some sort of a virus which renders the birds blind (many of the dead birds apparently have infected eyes and swollen heads).  Just when we thought we'd finally rounded the corner on our own battle with viruses...