Birds Keep Exploding in California—and Nobody Knows Why

By all accounts, Richmond, California, is a pretty chill Bay Area suburb. And then residents started finding “exploded” birds in their yards.

Residents have been finding dead birds scattered across their yards, with several reportedly exploding in midair. There have been 13 exploded birds found so far. Security cam footage even caught one poor bird plummeting from a power line right after a loud “pop.”

At first, locals thought it was a case of birds finally encountering a utility line that simply would not take being sat on anymore. The California Department of Fish and Wildlife did a necropsy (bird autopsy) on two of the dead birds and found that they were not killed by electrical burns.

It looked like they had been shot by a pellet gun, BB gun, or even a slingshot. The department was sure to note that they can’t say the same for all of the birds that have died of late. But it does open the possibility that someone might be straight-up hunting birds in the suburbs with a projectile weapon that’s not quite a gun but still strong enough to give an everyday bird that distinct exploded vibe.

Birds Keep Exploding in the Bay Area and Nobody Knows Why

It gets weirder: Even with the physical trauma, investigators couldn’t definitively say what caused all of the birds’ deaths. So we’re left with two possible culprits: a faulty power grid or a very stealthy neighborhood bird sniper.

Maximillian Bolling, a Richmond resident who claims to have seen several birds pop live, in person, while they were perching on power lines, described it as “really violent.” Meanwhile, fellow resident Sharon Anderson just called it “horrifying.”

PG&E, the utility company that services Richmond, did what PG&E does, given its poor reputation: deny responsibility and issue a politely vague statement. They said their power poles are up to “avian safe” standards, and that their investigation found zero signs of the city’s infrastructure causing this mysterious bird massacre.

So, if it’s not the power lines and it might be a human with ammo to burn, it looks like local authorities are trying to find a person rather than a faulty power line. The California Department of Fish and Wildlife is still investigating.

But until then, Richmond’s birds will continue living in fear of a mysterious threat that aims to shoot them out of the sky for no discernible reason.