Why Are So Many Birds Gathering on Missouri Roads?

When is a mystery not a mystery? Answer - when there's a logical answer. I'm hoping that's the case for recent reports from some in Missouri who claim they're seeing an unusual amount of birds gathering near roadways. What's up?

I saw this curious question that was asked recently on the Missouri sub-Reddit. It's a wondering about birds and roads and why they seem to be spending so much time together.

Birds on the road
by
u/007mellowyellow in
missouri

So I dared to do some research into why birds might be gathering near roads in higher numbers than usual and learned that our flying friends like roads because of the usual foraging opportunities like roadkill, dropped seeds, insects, and de-icing salt. There was one theory that birds were walking on roads because they were too tired from flying. That made me laugh.

I came across one serious answer that's also very timely. The National Wildlife Federation says that noise pollution created by data centers could be affecting birds travel where they might gravitate more toward roads in areas where data centers might be causing them navigation problems. I don't think that necessarily explains some thinking they're seeing more birds on roads than normal, but if it's something new we can blame on the intrusive data centers that seem to be taking over our lives in Missouri, I'm all for it.