The Guardian:  From the Archive October 21, 1948:  
 "What the Birds Know"

 Miami, Florida - The Bird Man told us that there would be a terrible dearth of birds in Florida owing to the catastrophe in September, when hundreds of thousands of birds hurled themselves against the Empire State Building in New York, and whole feathered populations were wiped out.  

"They were all on the way south for the season," he said sadly, "so don't take out the bird houses or build cafeterias in the trees.  There will be far fewer occupants.  An awful thing, all those warblers and ovenbirds, from all over the North-eastern United States and from Canada, hurling themselves against the tallest building in the world."

"What made them do it," we asked him, for the Bird Man is a philosopher, as well as an ornithologist.  His obsession is birds, just as some people down here in Florida pursue tree snails, sea shells, orchids, or Seminole Indians.  There was no theory to account for such a tragedy, he told us.  The scientists were baffled, particularly as the same thing occurred simultaneously on the same morning in cities all the way from Boston to Nashville.  It was just as though the bird world all over America had suddenly grown tired of living and had decided on complete mass suicide.  

"We might lay it down to fog or atmospheric pressure," he continued, and his voice trailed off into the murmur.  "Of course, there are always superstitions among the Indians and other primitive peoples..."

"Perhaps they were dazzled by too much light," contributed my husband; "they might have crashed into the Empire State Building just as they so often batter themselves against lighthouses all along the Atlantic Coast."  

"There couldn't have been fog in all those cities at once," I pointed out, "in Nashville and San Antonio and Philadelphia for instance.  Birds have been avoiding the great buildings for generations.  One of the first things their mothers must have taught them is what they learned from their own mothers: 'Watch out for tall buildings when you are flying,' just as we tell our children to watch out for traffic."

"Thousands of them must have been on their way south," said the Bird Man, "to warmer climates, perhaps to the mahogany forests of Yucatan or the silk cottons of the Bahamas.  They asked nothing of life, they were bothering nobody.  It was not necessary to even give them transportation, for they furnished their own.  All they wanted was to spend the summer where they could see the sun.  A natural wish, surely peculiar to human beings, as well to birds.  Why should they be punished for it?"  

Commentary:  I glanced at this old archive regarding the bird deaths, and went on to locate current articles about animal deaths for this post.  Later, remembering it was an old archive, I thought I should go back to the article to see if it was written anywhere near the time Israel became a nation, marking not only the soon return of the Messiah, but also the indignation of God preceding His return, according to Ezekiel chapters 37 and 38.  The other prophets also foretold of things that would happen before the Lord's return, "The land will mourn and everyone that dwells in it will languish, with the beasts of the field and the fowls of heaven; yes, the fishes of the sea will also be taken away" Hosea 4:3.  The return of God's people to the nation Israel marked the last generation before the return of Yeshua ha-mashiach (Jesus the Messiah).  It is no surprise to me that hundreds of thousands of birds committed suicide in 1948, in various parts of the world, and now the same thing is happening.  I truly believe they are two indicators, one marking the beginning of the end of the age, and the other, the end of the age.  God is patient and longsuffering, not willing that anyone should perish (2 Peter 3:9), so He allows the warning signs, as a signal that we should be spiritually prepared.  Are you prepared for the coming of the Lord?  If not, please visit the How Can I Be Saved page of this site.  God bless you.