A number of birds were found dead in Cole County, Missouri on Sunday, which has people of Missouri wonder what is going on, even though the number of birds is small compared to Arkansas and Louisiana.

According to Connect MidMissouri, "A KRCG viewer Jennifer Timbers called when she found about 30 dead Starlings in the middle of Rockridge Rd. near Frog Hollow in Cole County. In Missouri, at the time of the bird deaths, there was not any fire works, no colder than normal weather, or any explanation for 30 birds to fall dead. However, biologists are still saying that it is a natural occurrence in wildlife.

Additionally, on Saturday afternoon, there were also so dead birds along an overpass in Jefferson County, Missouri; however, this was just a little over a dozen birds. Walter Crawford of the World Bird Sanctuary said this about the dead birds in Jefferson County, "You have an overpass there," he said. "A lot of times birds will roost under these overpasses, especially in really cold winter...and, of course, mother nature weeds out the sick, the old and the injured and it could be that these were birds that were very old and just couldn't deal with the climate."

I have lived in a rural area most of my life and I have never seen birds or fish die in mass amounts, and I have spent a lot of time in the woods and on the lakes. However, the bird and fish deaths have seemed to slow down, so now all we can do is wait for the "offical" reports to come back on the findings. However, many are speculating a connection between the wildlife deaths and the 2010 Gulf Oil Spill.

If you happen to find any dead wildlife, please contact your state Wildlife and Fisheries Department, which in Lousisiana that would be 1-800-442-2511.