Dozens of dead starlings caused a kilometer-long traffic jam on the A2 near Vinkeveen on Thursday afternoon. Rijkswaterstaat closed three lanes to cull the animals; the delay amounted to about fifty minutes.
It is unclear how the starlings died. Some of the birds will be examined by the Dutch Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority to determine whether they have succumbed to bird flu. But Ruud van Beusekom, spokesman for Vogelbescherming Nederland, considers that very unlikely. “Bird flu mainly affects waterfowl, not songbirds. Moreover, in the event of illness, you would not expect them all to crash into the asphalt at the same time.” He suspects they were hit by a large truck. Starlings live in flocks together in winter, and are regularly found on roadsides. “If they are then startled by a bird of prey – for example a peregrine falcon or a sparrowhawk – they can panic and fly into a passing truck.” Birds are also sometimes hit when they take advantage of the heat on the asphalt, he adds. “But then it often happens early in the morning, on almost deserted roads. It is so busy on the A2 that birds don’t just sit there quietly.”
A version of this article also appeared in NRC in the morning of March 4, 2022