Maybe Bird Scientists Are Killing The Birds

“One key to the insights here is a small, dark room with two 1,000-frames-per-second cameras, developed by the military to study ballistics, which slow high-speed action in high resolution. Wild birds in flight are misted with a fog of vaporized olive oil, which is illuminated by a green strobing laser operating in tandem with the camera. The system allows researchers to track the movement of misty air around the birds, showing where they are generating lift and drag. It led to the discovery here of a vortex on the leading edge of bird wings, which adds to a bird’s lift. The birds, ranging from delicate diamond doves to burly ravens, have crystal sensors surgically implanted in their pectorals and elsewhere that measure muscle contractions as they fly… Birds are also put in wind tunnels and photographed at high speed so researchers can see in detail how they perform at 20 miles per hour or more. They are also fitted with tiny masks that measure metabolism.”
 — I don’t think we have to look much further into what’s killing birds in Arkansas and Louisiana or, most recently, Sweden (Jeez!). Seems like the scientists at the University of Montana Flight Laboratory probably have something to do with it.