Deaths not uncommon
Wright said large-scale deaths of birds and other species are not uncommon.
Storms, for instances, wreak havoc on bird populations. Birds are also vulnerable to chemical pollution and biological poisoning from natural toxins.
For the blackbird species alone, there have been 16 incidents in which 1,000 or more birds have died in single events over the past five years, he said.
The lab analyzes 300 to 500 large die-off events each year. The deaths involve all wildlife - deaths in 2010 are as varied as the demise of 4,500 bats from a fungal infection known as white-nose syndrome in Bucks County, Pa., to the death of 150 raccoons, striped skunks, coyotes and red fox in Los Angeles County.
The lab's website shows nine separate mortality events since December alone. Eight of those events involved bird species and one involved the gunshot deaths of dozens of Brazilian free-tailed bats near Pima, Ariz.
The National Wildlife Health Center also played a key role in the study of chronic wasting disease in Wisconsin's white-tailed deer population after an outbreak in February 2002.
"We don't know what we are going to get tomorrow, or the next day, but it will be something," Wright said.
