Canadian wildlife officials are investigating after
© Kevin BeechCanadian wildlife officials are investigating after dozens of birds fell from the sky in Tsawwassen last week.
Canadian wildlife officials are investigating after dozens of birds fell from the sky south of Vancouver.

The troubling incident occurred not far from the BC Ferries terminal in Tsawwassen last Friday.

"It was really creepy," witness Kevin Beech told CTV News.

Beech was driving in the area when something suddenly hit the ground: "I was like, 'What the hell?'"

He looked around and saw dozens of birds suddenly plummet to the ground. The animal lover was shocked when he realized the birds were either dead or dying.


"There was 42 European starlings that were found," said Rob Hope from the Orphaned Wildlife Rehabilitation Service.

But the number of dead birds grew. In addition to those collected by OWL, CTV spotted several more in the area on Thursday.

What caused their deaths remains a mystery.

"These birds appear to be healthy, visually. They weren't thin. They were in good body condition all around," Hope said.

There have been other cases of sudden mass bird deaths reported around the world over the years, sometimes involving thousands of birds, but Hope said he hasn't heard of anything similar taking place in B.C.

The Canadian Wildlife Society will be doing tests on the birds. It's hoped that the results will reveal what caused the strange deaths.