The last time Ford had a major smothering incident was when a fox came past: 580 birds perished.
The book chronicles some bizarre quarrels, including a 1920's suit over a car horn that allegedly set off a chicken riot in which 720 birds perished.
Pairs are generally monogamous, and remain together unless one bird perishes, although "divorces" have been recorded.
The Puerto Rican amazon usually mates for life, with pairs only changing mates if one bird perishes or abandons the nest.
I say dangerous, and of course many birds do perish on their return journey – killed by a predator, dying from exhaustion, or simply failing to find enough fuel to reach their destination.
Baby birds may perish by overheating in very hot weather, or by being drowned in the hollows after heavy rain.
Biologists have found a new way to peer back 130 million years in time, illuminating the catastrophic period in which the dinosaurs perished and birds and mammals arose.
Novarupta wiped out the region's mosquito population, and tens of thousands of mammals and birds are thought to have perished from starvation and from respiratory distress caused by falling ash.
So the big guys perished, and only birds made it through.
The birds could not be captured, and they finally perished in the ocean, landing on small islands of foam.
Birds were particularly vulnerable to the effects; many perished from ingesting oil as they tried to clean themselves or because of the substance's interference with their ability to regulate their body temperatures.
