New Year, dead birds: Is it happening again?

Remember last year there were all those dead birds that fell from the sky and littered the streets in that town in Arkansas? Did you see it happened again this year, albeit on a smaller scale? Same thing, red wing blackbirds, too: About 200 birds found dead in Arkansas city for second straight New Year's Eve

(See link below) My first thought was to write about it but then I figured it would get big, widespread coverage already anyway. I try to post different things. So, then, today, there's this story of yet another die-off: Norwegian beach briefly carpeted with dead herring

It seems scientists aren't sure if predators rather chased them onto shore or a storm surge did it or what. (Again, link to to original story below). My only points in posting about these is to say, here we go again, seemingly, first, and second, are they related to all the die-offs last year? Hopefully they aren't and hopefully, maybe we just weren't as aware of these things in the past. Maybe this always happened but international media and reporting and computers make all this far more available and knowable. Hopefully that's the case. Because if that's not the case, we also hope it's not because of how we--humankind--live, one way or another, and that we're causing these things. Between our pollution and pesticides and belching carbon dioxide into the air at hugely increasing levels and rates, who can say? Hopefully this is not a huge, devastating deal. That said, the way we live on this planet just really isn't sustainable, as the scientists confirm. Links: http://articles.cnn.com/2012-01-01/us/us_arkansas-bird-deaths_1_blackbird-deaths-dead-birds-fireworks?_s=PM:US; http://news.yahoo.com/norwegian-beach-briefly-carpeted-dead-herring-145338809.html;_ylt=AtijTgTm3EOkC3VY7.tHXmSs0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTN2N2g3dDdwBG1pdANPZGQgRnJvbnQgUGFnZQRwa2cDMTAwMzIyOGEtYjhjMC0zNzE2LTg5ZWItNDk2Y2JkN2ZkMGI2BHBvcwMyBHNlYwNNZWRpYVNlY3Rpb25MaXN0BHZlcgNmMTYyMzNlMC0zNjFhLTExZTEtOTlmYi04NmE0OGUxMDEzYWM-;_ylg=X3oDMTFvdnRqYzJoBGludGwDdXMEbGFuZwNlbi11cwRwc3RhaWQDBHBzdGNhdANob21lBHB0A3NlY3Rpb25zBHRlc3QD;_ylv=3