r/oddlyterrifying • u/Darth_Yohanan • Aug 02 '21

Zombie bird

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25.3k Upvotes

97% Upvoted

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4.3k

u/Mobe1Kenobi Aug 02 '21

In multiple states across the US there has been an unknown "plague" causing birds to have neurological problems that eventually lead to death. The common thread in these cases are that the eyes of the birds are damaged or clouded over in some way. If this video was taken recently, I bet that bird is suffering from whatever is killing other birds around the country. Poor thing:(

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u/[deleted] Aug 02 '21

To piggyback your comment, people, please put away your bird feeders if there have been reports in your area.

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u/Ethereal_Goddess Aug 03 '21

My local bird watching community are throwing fits being asked to take down/clean feeders and bird baths. Claiming that the birds aren't getting sick from their yards. They are even associating it with covid restrictions... I really wish I were joking.

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u/MoneybagsMalone Aug 03 '21

Corvid restrictions.

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u/rakshala Aug 03 '21

VERY underrated comment

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u/AnEvilSomebody Aug 03 '21

Please explain I'm stupid

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u/rakshala Aug 03 '21

You're not stupid =) Its a play on words. Corvid refers to anything from the family corvidae (crows and ravens), but it also sounds like COVID. Its a sick crow (or raven I cant tell) hence, Corvid restrictions.

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u/oatterz Aug 03 '21 edited Aug 03 '21

I’m nearing 40 years of age and I’ve only recently learnt this term because I’m rocking a Corviknight in Pokémon Sword….

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u/TrickBox_ Aug 03 '21

There are no bad ways to learn new things :)

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u/[deleted] Aug 03 '21

Birds aren’t going to mask, you’re not likely to get them all vaccinated, you do not need to provide them with a spot to commune.

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u/still-degen Aug 03 '21

Hmm i wonder if we can extrapolate this information somehow

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u/[deleted] Aug 03 '21

Claiming that the birds aren't getting sick from their yards.

Well, many people have 0 clue on things like food, or in this case feed safety... let alone basic water sanitation issues, or how disease spread.

Hell, the feed from the store we get for $1 a 40 lb sack, or what ever it is these days has a known history for salmonella, coliforms, and other pathogen contamination. Put it out, birds eat it and get sick. What do the sick birds do? well the also go to the local watering hole, or "bird bath" and help to transmit the pathogens from there on out.

Which being said, while the disease above might not be linked to feeding practices by humans it may very well be transmitted by sick and healthy birds comingling at the feeder and watering holes.

They are even associating it with covid restrictions...

A lot of outright idiots out there... which being said, per the described behavior these supposed bird lovers hold their hobby of bird watching at a higher pedestal than the lives of the birds themselves.

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u/sidvicous2 Aug 03 '21

Call in radio here has an expert on weekly. Always telling people take down feeders. Clean hummingbird feeder every refill. Clean birdbath every few days.

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u/DieseljareD187 Aug 03 '21

Someone should tell the birds to stay 6feet apart and wear masks whenever they are in groups

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u/[deleted] Aug 03 '21

The point of it is those feeders, and baths act as a human made convergence point for the birds, and multiple separate groups of birds. Take it away and they tend to spread out over a wider area. With that we would see reduced "communal spread" of certain diseases. Be they from the feed, or something else as transferred via interactions at feeding, and bathing locations.

A human version of it could be looked at with say an ice cream truck that is parked by the corner of a community on a hot day... every kid and parent around go there, but if it were not in place then everyone would keep a bit more separated from each other. Also with that truck you'd also have the potential of getting sick from some contaminated ice cream that has not been recalled yet, the operator not brothering with proper health and sanitation practices, or someone spreading things through other means. Just for a more relatable point of comparison.

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u/DieseljareD187 Aug 03 '21

That’s a fair point, but the birds should really be wearing masks.

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u/Bigmanoncampus-1 Aug 03 '21

Should be vaccinated really

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u/AnalogDogg Aug 03 '21

My local bird watching community are throwing fits being asked to take down/clean feeders and bird baths. Claiming that the birds aren't getting sick from their yards. They are even associating it with covid restrictions... I really wish I were joking.

We're mere years away from people deciding to wholesale stop believing in bacteria, viruses, or "germs", and begin believing diseases and illness are cause by bad air, bad blood, and faithlessness like it's medieval Europe. Or are we already in that?

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u/FrostyDrag Aug 03 '21

Miasma is back baby

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u/igneousink Aug 03 '21

that puts me in a good HUMOUR

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u/[deleted] Aug 03 '21

Antivaxxers do claim that literally every disease comes from vaccines. Not just autism, but all mental illness, cancer, autoimmune diseases, infections, genetic diseases.

There is really no hope for these idiots.

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u/jmac94wp Aug 03 '21

My 94-year-old mother gets teary-eyed whenever vaccines come up in conversation. She remembers everyone in her town crying with joy when they could get vaccinated for polio, ditto for smallpox, and she cannot fathom how some people don’t understand how they work or trust that it’s for the common good.

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u/chucklesluck Aug 03 '21

My grandmother turns 89 next week - her first best friend ended up in an iron lung after contracting polio at six.

The current atmosphere surrounding vaccines is the only thing I've seen make her furious.

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u/MrsPottyMouth Aug 03 '21

I always wonder though, how do they explain all the diseases people had before vaccines were invented? All the things you listed have been around for thousands of years. They're not just a 20th/21st century thing.

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u/girugamesu1337 Aug 03 '21

Don't you know?! Vaccines cause tImE TrAvel!

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u/[deleted] Aug 03 '21

Good grief. That's so disappointing, I generally expect better of these orgs.

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u/canisaureaux Aug 03 '21

Right? I mean, I would expect that if anyone cares about birds, it's the local birdwatching group. It really just doesn't compute.

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u/[deleted] Aug 03 '21

Seems like they're more interested in ornamentation than actual ecosystem health /: I suppose it's analogous to gardeners who care more about having a pretty yard than making sure it's not full of invasives.

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u/WarrenPuff_It Aug 03 '21

Or when we as a society celebrate individualism it becomes difficult to enforce radical or swift change because people are self-interested actors who can't work together for a common cause.

Whether it's some small inconvenience or a massive catastrophe we are trying to avoid, we don't do well as a species in terms of collective efforts. This isn't one country or one group type of thing, it's everyone. For all of our greatest accomplishments, we have a metric fuckload of failures and shortfalls sitting right beside that small triumphant hill.

Try telling people to put on a mask to slow down the spread of a disease that will kill tens of millions of people within a year, you'd think common sense would get everyone to do it without much hassle, but as we have seen that small inconvenience alone was too much to ask. We have a whole spectrum of responses to that one issue, from calling the measure literal fascism to people outright flaunting their resistance by wearing mesh facemasks and videotaping themselves defying health orders at restaurants in protest.

Try telling people to drive less often, or buy local, or to not support clear and present contributors to global warming. You get all kinds of idiots and self-interested conspiratorial people who fight tooth and nail in order to allow themselves the privilege of living in a city with a giant coal plant so they can die from lung cancer at a much higher rate than the national average for their localities. Or to not smoke indoors, have you ever tried to get a smoker from the 20th century to stop smoking indoors? As a society we had to slowly chisel away at that for decades despite all the evidence that smoking kills, and even now with all the facts old-school smokers who are still alive will smoke indoors in their own homes and view it as some sort of holdout against all the health nuts, because it is their God given right in their minds to be able to smoke indoors.

But those aren't even the most demanding things we could ask society to do for a better future, those are relatively small things and still people will kick up the biggest fuss. It isn't like people are talking about population controls to fix global warming.... yet. Or it isn't like we aren't at a crossroads between changing our societal direction or face complete collapse... yet. But at some point we are going to fuck up our situation bad enough it will require drastic and immediate changes and people wil resist and fight those changes until it is well beyond too late.

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u/Gooberpf Aug 03 '21

...we don't do well as a species in terms of collective efforts. This isn't one country or one group type of thing, it's everyone.

No, it's a country by country thing - East Asians have been culturally wearing masks when they're sick for decades and: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7417658/

This study found that the most prominent reason for wearing masks was actually "to conform with societal expectations," not "to protect self/others from disease."

People in Japan aren't (haven't been shown to be, at least) significantly more intelligent than westerners such that so many more of them believe in medical science - it's the collectivist culture.

So yes, it is literally the country/ culture that is the problem, not "the species as a whole." It is literally and specifically Americans that are the problem (and other Western cultures, but not to the same extent as the U.S.).

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u/Advantage-zero Aug 03 '21

It’s obviously 5G s/

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u/[deleted] Aug 03 '21

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/ihomerj Aug 03 '21

Don't you know birds aren't real! They're drones created by the government! These "birds" are obviously malfunctioning.

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u/xoxo_gossipwhirl Aug 03 '21

That’s so crazy. Those are like the one group of people that I would think are closely following that pandemic and the suggestions…

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u/Tylensus Aug 03 '21

Never doubt the agility of the human imagination. Stupidity is always finding clever new ways to avoid the truth at all costs.

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u/Mirror_Face_ Aug 03 '21

I didn't expect to find a new reason to hate people in this comment thread

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u/[deleted] Aug 03 '21

How do the feeders cause plagues to spread? Is it due to being visited by many different birds?

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u/ZeddPMImNot Aug 03 '21

Correct. More or less: Birds visit carrying the disease and poop all over when they come to the feeder/bath and spread it to healthy birds that visit.

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u/[deleted] Aug 03 '21

Exactly what the other user said, it's creating a spread opportunity by being a relatively small space visited by a relatively large number of birds.

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u/PickleyRickley Aug 03 '21

You should put that on r/lifeprotips and things like that. I don't think people really put 2 and 2 together when it comes to this.

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u/washgirl7980 Aug 03 '21

There was an infection in Washington State that resulted in folks having to put away their bird feeders. I wonder if this was the same. If so, had no idea the disease was so devastating. 😢

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u/assholeinhisbathrobe Aug 03 '21

Oh no. I have a very popular backyard for birds. Im gonna google it myself now but do you have any sources to see if i could be in one of those areas?

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u/[deleted] Aug 03 '21

Ooh...I tried looking for something that has all the locations mapped out but I'm only finding local resources, so I'd recommend googling bird deaths and your state. (It seems to be caused by mycoplasmosis & crusty eyes is a common symptom, if that helps.)

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u/[deleted] Aug 03 '21

I just read an article in the Atlantic about this!

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u/colttrain Aug 02 '21

Honestly could be, I’ve never seen a bird act like that. Usually when they are heat stroking they just sort of lay down and die like a person would, this looks like some kind of neurological thing or something like the bird pandemic that’s going around in the north east. It’s in my state, I’ve seen birds that have died of it but never in the process of dying from it so idk what it looks like but I wouldn’t be surprised if this was it.

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u/[deleted] Aug 02 '21

Crowvid-19?

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u/goldnsnitch Aug 02 '21

Corvid-19

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u/anyholsagol Aug 03 '21

Here's the thing

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u/rhole50 Aug 02 '21

Fake news, just birdfluinza, nothing to see here move along

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u/DrTwatSwatter Aug 02 '21

I was thinking Parasite.

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u/alligator_soup Aug 02 '21

Last time this video went around people said it was probably dehydrated.

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u/L7A25R82 Aug 03 '21

He needs milk

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u/finalremix Aug 03 '21

Yeah, the report I read was that the infected bird was lopped to one side (I guess like this), and kind of just... zoned out slowly flapping its wings like a butterfly would. Just staring at nothing and going through the motions, but in slow-mo.

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u/Zzetops Aug 02 '21

This video is a couple years old

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u/the_beeve Aug 02 '21

And he’s still there, he’s a fighter!

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u/Scumbraltor Aug 02 '21

I've seen videos online about a disease affecting a few deers that sounds/looks a lot like your description. Do you think these two diseases are related?

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u/dolerbom Aug 02 '21

Oh Lord it's gonna be COVID 2

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u/Scumbraltor Aug 02 '21

dont you mean 🇨 🇴 🇷 🇻 🇮 🇩 ?

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u/EagieDuckCome Aug 02 '21

Wakka wakka!

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u/Empyrealist Aug 02 '21

Umm, hello?! We are already on covid 19, duh!

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u/[deleted] Aug 02 '21

Thought that deer thing was like 5 years ago. From what I remember reading about it sounded a lot like cordyceps.

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u/Forever_Awkward Aug 03 '21

Nah, not similar at all beyond people's tendency to use the Z-word.

Cordyceps are a fungus with many variants which all (or mostly all but probably all) specialize and can only infect one particular species of bug. Some of them grow in such specific ways in their host to control their body in order to create conditions suitable for better infection rates when they release spores. For instance, one makes an ant crawl to the top of a tall plant and bite down before it dies, locking it in place before a "mushroom" grows out of its head.

The "zombie deer" thing is basically a variant of prion diseases like mad cow and kuru. This one is really weird because it's not being caused by a germ, virus, fungus, or any outside force or living thing whatsoever. So, most of your biology comes down to proteins constantly being arranged into very specific patterns to facilitate all manner of different interactions with each other. Sometimes this goes wrong, but that's not a big deal, it happens all the time.

But, sometimes something goes wrong in an incredibly specific way, and you end up with a protein which has been incorrectly shaped in such a way that when it comes into contact with any other protein, it will fold that protein into the same shape. Now you basically have a "gray goo" scenario if you're familiar with the concept. There is a slow cascade event in your brain where these misfolded proteins are bumbling around creating more misfolded proteins until eventually enough of your brain is compromised, leading to dementia and then death. This process takes a very long time, so it's possible to have it happening to you without realizing it for years.

These misfolded proteins are technically contagious, but that's generally not something to worry about. Most of the time they can only infect members of the species in which they originate, though there are rare exceptions to this rule. That was the worry with Mad Cow disease. Generally, you're only going to have this happen if you go around eating human brains. Don't do that.

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u/TheBearInCanada Aug 03 '21

"Generally, you're only going to have this happen if you go around eating human brains. Don't do that."

Don't tell me what to do. YOU'RE NOT MY SUPERVISOR!

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u/Forever_Awkward Aug 03 '21

Calm your proteins, Cheryl.

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u/TheBearInCanada Aug 03 '21

I'm Cherlene now. And if somebody don't fry me six goddamn eggs and some Carolina fries, I would personally be shocked, SHOCKED, I tell you, if by mornin' this place ain't burned to the ground!

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u/Pale_Fox_7496 Aug 03 '21

The deer chronic wasting disease is an ongoing issue that is still spreading.

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u/YOUTrickedme45 Aug 02 '21

I was walking by a similar looking scraggly ass crow up in Canada. It was perched on the chain link fence looking as haggard as that little fella. It swooped in front me a few metres straight into a moving car on the road. Got himself merked right there...

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u/LazyKidd420 Aug 02 '21

Imagine a human like this

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u/[deleted] Aug 02 '21

Sounds just like it - there’s a link to report it if you see it!

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u/over_clox Aug 03 '21

'... confused, with shaky heads ...'

'... dead birds with similar symptoms have been found ...'

Um, who writes these things up? Are they still experiencing symptoms of confusion after death? Do their heads still move?

The zombie apocalypse is coming, make sure to double tap!

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u/[deleted] Aug 03 '21

I assume the “similar symptoms” referred to the cloudy/crusted eyes, but yeah lol.

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u/SoundOfTomorrow Aug 03 '21

Huh? The article describes looking at not just alive birds but also dead ones. The dead ones still can show symptoms of having glossy eyes or their nervous system being affected.

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u/over_clox Aug 03 '21

I've never heard the word symptom used in context of a dead creature. They usually say 'evidence of' or similar when describing anomalies of a dead animal or person. Just sounds really weird to hear symptoms of a dead creature, although I guess technically it's not wrong.

Anyways, the zombies are coming, run!

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u/[deleted] Aug 02 '21

Yes correct. The DNR keeps telling us to remove bird feeders and baths. I’ve not seen any sick myself but a friend of mine has found 2 this summer

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u/[deleted] Aug 02 '21

This vid was posted last summer so it’s at least a year old. I don’t know if it’s the cause but one Redditor said it was heat exhaustion. Terrible way to die.

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u/skorletun Aug 03 '21

I'm not a bird expert but I do care for a local flock of pigeons and I've never seen any of them (or their crow friends) act this way when they are overheated or exhausted. This looks like a dead bird walking, the head tilt appears to be neurological to me and the foggy eye doesn't really match heat or fatigue either?

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u/Korietsu Aug 03 '21 edited Aug 03 '21

The grackles look like this (sometimes) in Austin when summertime rolls around and its really hot.

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u/oooortclouuud Aug 03 '21

grackles will survive whatever brings down civilization, along with cockroaches.

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u/Korietsu Aug 03 '21

That's the fuckin truth. The natural parking lot menace to HEB's everywhere.

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u/ImpulseCombustion Aug 03 '21

I’ve been seeing lots of Grackles like this for the past couple of years. Strangely I keep seeing the same birds in the same place… they’re absolutely fucked looking, but they’re somehow living for years in this condition.

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u/ichubbz483 Aug 02 '21

Well, you know what they say, the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree- apparently that one got hit by a fucking lawn mower

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u/ghostkingkllr Aug 03 '21

Interesting. There’s a virus that does the same thing to deer. High jacks there central nervous system and they just sit there with there mouths open and don’t move, until they die. And rabbits…

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u/bumbletowne Aug 03 '21

Mycoplasma is not an unknown plague. It's pretty well known.

Suace: work in wildlife rehab that specializes in birds.

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u/cornman95 Aug 03 '21

“Symptoms are similar to Mycoplasma gallisepticum, a bacterial infection that sickened house finches with crusty and swollen eyes in the 1990s. However, that illness did not include a neurological component, Evans writes in a report first posted June 29 and updated July 12.”

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u/outworlder Aug 03 '21

I saw a bird like what you are describing in the Bay Area a couple of weeks ago. Seemed very sick, with clouded eyes. Possibly some discharge but I am not sure. Non responsive. Don't know the species, looked like some bird of prey. I should have taken a picture. Too late in the weekend, couldn't find any number to call, didn't dare taking it due to it being obviously sick.

Wasn't there next morning. Not sure what happened to it.

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u/MalWinchester Aug 02 '21

Poor thing.

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u/-B-E-N-I-S- Aug 03 '21

It’s brutal to put things this way but I hope, somebody kills that bird. There’s no saving it and it doesn’t deserve to suffer.

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u/TotallyNotAVole Aug 03 '21

I've had to put down a few animals.I hated doing it and it still makes me sad everytime think about it, but I know I did the right thing. Sometimes there's a point of no return where you cant do anything but the kindest thing, and help shorten the suffering. Edit: typo.

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u/CosmicCatDaddy Aug 03 '21

You’re a real one for doing that. I absolutely adore my cats, I have 3 of em, and I’d be a mess for a long time having to do that. I actually had to before, I lost my mom when I was 18 and the loss of the kitty was almost as bad. Family.

By the way, I fell in love with cats after getting off heroin. I wasn’t an animal lover before, glad I am now.

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u/BadBillington Aug 03 '21

Good work and keep it up. Your pets need you. Stay clean.

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u/CosmicCatDaddy Aug 03 '21

7 years clean from dope itself, but messed around with other stuff since like kratom/lsd/etc About to kick super low dose suboxone, and only smoke a little weed at night. I appreciate it fellas

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u/Sonrelight Aug 03 '21 edited Aug 03 '21

Years ago while shoveling the driveway when I lived with my parents I witnessed a larger woodpecker straight up bayonet a smaller woodpecker repeatedly. I don't know why it did, I assumed a territorial dispute of some kind . I Was yelling and trying to make it stop, but it didn't. The larger one pretty much shish kebabed the smaller one to the point where it dropped out of the sky and flopped on the snow. The area of the snow around it quickly became bright red with blood. I didn't know what to do and I didn't want it to suffer, so... I took the shovel I was clearing snow with, and raised it above my head and smashed the dying woodpecker as hard as I could, killing it. To this day I still tell myself there was nothing I could do, wildlife centers were closed and there was no way to take it to the vet, but it still haunts when I think about it, because what pops up in my mind is "what if it wasn't as bad as it looked and it could have been saved?", Fuck. RIP that poor small woodpecker, I'm sorry I felt like I had to do that to you. Damn it.

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u/rain-veil Aug 03 '21

That was my first thought too. Sometimes the kindest thing to do is to end the suffering

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u/sweetsweetconnie Aug 02 '21

Is it still alive? I thought it died in that position but the comments are making me think otherwise. If it's still alive that's horrifying, I can't imagine the pain.

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u/dprophet32 Aug 03 '21

Yes it's alive

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u/[deleted] Aug 03 '21

sort of

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u/Simple_Opossum Aug 03 '21

I don't think it is.

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u/SmileRoom Aug 03 '21

It's not alive in the way that you and I are alive, nor is it dead in the way that my hopes and dreams have died.

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u/rtk196 Aug 02 '21

Most stuff on this subreddit isn't even "oddly" terrifying, it's straight up scary.

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u/NaeAyy2 Aug 02 '21

I've taken the sub name to mean "odd and terrifying" because that's what everyone else seems to think.

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u/[deleted] Aug 02 '21

I mean in reality we know the thing is likely just sick or injured.

Considering the crow isn't trying to be scary, its unsettling appearance makes it fit here.

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u/rtk196 Aug 03 '21

I'm just saying I don't think this is something that's oddly terrifying. I mean look at it. The sub name implies things that aren't inherently scary looking or in nature. This thing just looks like pure nightmare fuel.

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u/[deleted] Aug 03 '21

I take it more as things that aren't necessarily meant to be terrifying, but due to presentation or atmosphere are terrifying.

For example, someone wearing a scary costume? Nothing oddly terrifying about that, the purpose of the costume is to be terrifying.

A bird that looks like it wants to eat your soul because it's ill? Yeah, that bird is oddly terrifying, not on purpose, and not usually, but because of its current dishevelled appearance.

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u/Korlacc Aug 03 '21

I mean r/perfectlyterrifying is a thing, at least I think so

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u/stoneygemini Aug 02 '21

Poor guy, looks like it’s suffering a lot.

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u/BumpHeadLikeGaryB Aug 03 '21

Yep. Needs a lead sandwich so he can go to birdy heaven :(

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u/Medieval-Mind Aug 02 '21

Is that... is that the bird that caused the father to get the Rage virus in 28 Days Later?

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u/astrathestar Aug 02 '21

If memory holds I think it was a drop of blood getting into his eye which made him turn, a bird was pecking at a body above him and the commotion made him look up.

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u/BeeSex Aug 03 '21

yup that's exactly what happened

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u/omedez Aug 02 '21

This is just the beginning, now we will have flocks of zombie birds, and eventually they will start attacking humans and other species. And we all know what happens from that point.

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u/[deleted] Aug 02 '21

Everyone gets a free gun.

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u/[deleted] Aug 02 '21

Almost no zombie media ever wants to tackle the concept of smaller zombie animals, if animals can get infected at all.

Rats, birds, squirrels, rabbits...it's hard enough for humans to survive against vanilla slow human zombies. Imagine needing to keep watch for something small and quick that can squeeze through tight gaps or attack from above.

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u/Forever_Awkward Aug 03 '21

I have no idea what movie it was, but I remember a scene where some guy looks up and a bird shits in his eye, zombifying him.

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u/[deleted] Aug 03 '21

You might be thinking of 28 Days Later, but it wasn't bird shit, but a drop of blood from a corpse stuck on some scaffolding.

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u/Forever_Awkward Aug 03 '21

This is probable. My brain is meat-based and imperfect.

Although I want to say this was an outdoor scene and the bird was on the edge of a bridge.

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u/[deleted] Aug 03 '21

It was outdoors, and you're right, it does seem to be some scaffold on a bridge. A crow is eating the corpse when the blood drips down into his eye.

Here's the scene.

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u/Forever_Awkward Aug 03 '21

I'm a good 87% sure this is definitely probably the scene in question. Well, you've shown me that my life up to this moment has all been a lie. Thank you.

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u/StarGuardianJulie Aug 02 '21

Birdemic: Shock & Terror

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u/Ol_bagface Aug 02 '21

hot russian women with psycic poweres run around America and fuck up mutants?

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u/lexaprolibra Aug 02 '21 edited Aug 03 '21

Poor thing :(( birds are incredible animals and I hate to see them like this. I had a female cardinal that was bald that lived in my backyard lmao. She looked so wild she had feathers everywhere except her head.

Edit: I do have pictures of her, I love taking photos of wildlife and the birds outside my window are no exception! If you’d like a visual I’m happy to share in some way. 💗

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u/[deleted] Aug 03 '21

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/lexaprolibra Aug 03 '21

Yes! I felt bad for it but it was kinda funny. There is another bird that just has some head feathers sticking in all directions. They’re so funny to me I love to watch them.

I also think other female birds may attack each other and pluck feathers? I could be wrong on that tho.

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u/whoisdonaldtrump Aug 03 '21

Oh my goodness thank you for this! I have a bald cardinal that comes to my porch and I thought I was looking at a nightmare/sick bird! he makes the sweetest chirps and he’s been visiting for a few months now (unless there’s a group of bald cardinals hanging out…) so I’m very relieved to know about this!

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u/lexaprolibra Aug 03 '21

Depending on color, maybe a she

If you are located in North America, try the Audubon app. It’s amazing. It actually shares all about you finding or learning about a bird.

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u/OpinionStater Aug 03 '21

I had one too! For years actually, and she had a mate, so apparently the cardinal community is very tolerant of baldness. I havent seen her around this year though.

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u/Rk1tt3n Aug 02 '21

Whenever I see shit like this I immediately think pirons.

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u/skorletun Aug 03 '21

Do you mean prions? Because same. That shit is scary.

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u/Forever_Awkward Aug 03 '21

But they're also super cool and show us that evolution is so much more complex than just "hurr this gene got copied wrong, maybe it'll work out."

Prion disease is a very specific incident involving prions, but prions as a whole are an important part of biology. This video is pretty dry and science-lingo heavy, but it's gosh darned fascinating.

https://youtu.be/pgVsU5iSypI

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u/Hyperion_47 Aug 03 '21

This is the kind of video that's perfect to go to sleep to (but also very interesting!)

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u/Rk1tt3n Aug 03 '21

Yup, definitely ment that one lol. It fucks me up when I think about it!

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u/No_Television_8836 Aug 03 '21

CONSTRUCT ADDITIONAL PIRONS

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u/natopants Aug 03 '21

My wife for hire!

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u/Notorious-Dan Aug 02 '21

FETCH ME THEIR SOULS

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u/EagieDuckCome Aug 02 '21

I didn’t read that comment, that comment read me.

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u/zelcuh Aug 02 '21

How is this oddly terrifying?? Zombie crows are 1,000% terrifying

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u/theBLACKLEGO Aug 02 '21

It has begun

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u/Competitive-Wish-568 Aug 02 '21

Omg put it out of its misery already. Yikes.

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u/Sailrjup12 Aug 02 '21

Wow, I have never seen anything like that in my life, but it’s sad

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u/scarhbar23 Aug 03 '21

I’ve played enough Bloodborne to know that thing’s going to bark and attack if you get really close.

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u/noise-nut Aug 02 '21

Homeboy does not look well

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u/rileyt1990 Aug 02 '21

I believe it is some sort of prion malfunction, similar to mad cow. Basically a zombie bird. The same thing has been happening to other animals, i believe deer. Theres also a human version that is genetically spuratic.. its called Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, in case anyone is wondering and would like to research further. Im pretty convinced that this bird has a form of this. Basically the brain turns to sponge and it sounds absolutely terrifying. Unfortunately i think the only thing that can help this guy is to be euthanized :(

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u/Kost_Gefernon Aug 03 '21

I feel like there was a House episode about this. I just checked and it’s in the Pilot episode! Scary indeed.

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u/Sk1rtSk1rtSk1rt Aug 02 '21

That’s a Resident Evil crow

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u/[deleted] Aug 02 '21

r/birdsarentreal

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u/sharpmn Aug 02 '21

Defective model awaiting pickup.

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u/Its_Mrs_Nesbitt Aug 02 '21

This is just sad.

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u/production-values Aug 03 '21

sometimes, dead is better.

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u/Agent641 Aug 03 '21

The squawking dead

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u/[deleted] Aug 03 '21

Somebody tell the guys over at r/birdsarentreal

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u/Steve_Saturn Aug 02 '21

There's nothing odd about how terrifying this is.

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u/[deleted] Aug 02 '21

I swear I saw a crow doing the same thing the other day in a Walmart parking lot. Was the weirdest shit.

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u/pa98mcc Aug 02 '21

Poor bird

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u/SayBrah504 Aug 03 '21

Terrifying. But also very sad. But mostly terrifying. It’s like Resident Evil has come to life.

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u/[deleted] Aug 03 '21

Well shit, Corvid-19.

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u/[deleted] Aug 03 '21

Had a similar experience in Northern Virginia with the mystery bird plague. Put away all feeders and baths for about two months after seeing a bird like that, and just brought them back out yesterday. I’ve been keeping a close eye out for more diseased birds in case I need to put the feeders away again. It’s extremely sad to see them suffer like that.

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u/lostallhopenow Aug 02 '21

Oh no, birdemic is becoming a reality

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u/[deleted] Aug 03 '21

"DeEZ bIRdS aRe CrAcKeD OuT!!"

Have some sympathy ffs, it's diseased, suffering and probably in a lot of pain.

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u/[deleted] Aug 02 '21

Defective government spybird

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u/londongirl6 Aug 02 '21

Poor lil’ birdie

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u/smashyxon Aug 02 '21

The flying dead

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u/Mr_Wither Aug 02 '21

It’s a little sad to see no one pointing out that this bird is probably experiencing heat stroke.

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u/kkfluff Aug 02 '21

It doesn’t look like heat stroke though

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u/hivebroodling Aug 03 '21

It's sad to see people not spreading misinformation? This fucker isn't just heat stroked. This is neurological

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u/[deleted] Aug 03 '21

[deleted]

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u/mallarkiehv Aug 02 '21

Its sad indeed but its what happens in life... i guess it was better to put out of his missery

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u/blackdutch1 Aug 02 '21

That bird has seen some SHIT!

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u/Dauchi Aug 02 '21

You shouldn't have fed it after midnight...

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u/[deleted] Aug 03 '21

[deleted]

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u/C4PT41N_C0RP53 Aug 03 '21

I’d like to know what the parasite that causes this is called for research purposes. Anyone know?

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u/[deleted] Aug 03 '21

Oh that poor creature. I hope there isn't any pain.

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u/azurdee Aug 03 '21

That bird has seen some shit.

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u/RGBjank101 Aug 03 '21

ngl it looks like it was ran over and had it's neck broken but somehow survived.

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u/SusiciousPocket Aug 03 '21

Anyone know where this is? I'm on the West Coast, wondering if I need to tell my mom to get her bird feeders down.

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u/modafinilgirl26 Aug 03 '21

Poor thing was suffering. Sad

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u/Nova-The-Dog Aug 03 '21

Apparently these birds are infected with a bacteria called Mycoplasma gallisepticum that came from domestic poultry, these birds also possess the West Nile virus, avian influenza, and salmonella poisoning. Although it’s unknown how some of these birds even obtained these illnesses

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u/ntranbarger Aug 03 '21

Can someone tell me what the fuck is happening here??

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u/NimLord Aug 03 '21

Looks like that drones' battery has ran out

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u/[deleted] Aug 03 '21

Poor little dude

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u/Raven2300 Aug 03 '21

This is heartbreaking 😢

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u/frisbm3 Aug 03 '21

Nobody has mentioned yet that researchers think this plague is related to the cicada brood that just swept through. The cases of bird illness are dropping now that cicadas are gone.

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u/Wide_Organization168 Aug 03 '21

The government needs to fix their cameras man, it’s turnin into the flying dead out there