Puzzling bird, fish kills drive some humans batty

That probably wouldn't explain the dead fish reported in Arkansas, but authorities there are investigating the possibility of disease - again, not an unknown phenomenon.

As for the bay fish kill, turns out it's mainly juvenile spot and some croaker, and biologists suspect the unusually sudden and severe drop in water temperatures in late December did them in. It's not unheard of - there've been other, even bigger winter fish kills in the bay in similar circumstances. And there's been no immediate indication of any pollution or other water-quality problem that might've put the fish in harm's way.

Authorities are investigating, though they caution that the bay fish may be too decomposed to really determine what killed them.

Is there anything connecting these disparate events? I kind of like my colleague Frank Roylance's suggestion, made on his weather blog, that the Internet's to blame.  Not for the wildlife deaths, but for enabling folks to rapidly connect so many disparate dots and see an alarming pattern.

As journalists, we're in the business of connecting dots, so I understand the tendency. We live for unmasking previously unnoticed, slowly developing trends and hidden, nefarious plots. But sometimes, a series of similar events is just a coincidence, not conspiracy.

We may - or may not - ultimately find out what killed these critters. I'll be waiting for the final reports. Meanwhile, I'm not ready to stock up just yet, on food, ammo or even toilet paper.

(Dead fish in Northwest Creek, MD Dept of Environment; dead birds in Pointe Coupee Parish, La.)