BEEBE — An Arkansas Game and Fish Commission spokeswoman says people targeted a blackbird roost in Beebe with fireworks, causing about 100 birds to die at the scene where thousands perished on New Year’s Eve a year before.
Game and Fish spokeswoman Ginny Porter said Sunday that people targeted the birds at about 7 p.m. Saturday and again around midnight. Blackbirds don’t see well and when they panicked they flew into trees, buildings and each other.
Porter says no arrests were made but Beebe police and wildlife officers were patrolling to try to protect the birds.
Large numbers of migrating blackbirds roost in the city about 35 miles northeast of Little Rock.
The National Weather Service office in North Little Rock released a recent radar image that showed flocking birds over Beebe.