Dozens of birds have been found dead or barely alive in the area of King Street and Dufferin Avenue in Winnipeg's North End.
"I saw birds - some of them falling from the sky. Some of them on the ground...most of them alive, some of them dead," said Rwandan Sakoli, who works in the area.
He said he saw birds falling from trees over the noon hour Wednesday.
"It's something in the skies. It was affecting them and they were dropping dead," he said.
The owners of a restaurant nearby on Main Street say they saw hundreds of birds swooping from the sky and covering a field.
"There's so many of them and they were going crazy," said Susan Tiginagas.
The city sent a crew to pick up the remains of the birds.
The wildlife branch of Manitoba Conservation and Water Stewardship confirmed the dead birds are common grackles.
Contractors sent to clean up the dead birds said they were even surprised by the numbers.
"I've never seen this before. This is pretty crazy. I get calls for maybe one or two at the same location," said Cameron Vonau.
The birds that are still alive were taken to the Winnipeg Humane Society to be looked at by a vet.
Manitoba Conservation is investigating the deaths. A spokesperson said Aug. 8 that it could take a few days for the results to come back.
The case isn't the first one this year with multiple bird deaths. This past January, a Brandon man became concerned over two dozen dead sparrows that turned up in his backyard and reported it. At the time, a vet told CTV News it was likely a salmonella infection spread by the birds, which usually happens in winter months.
- with a report from Ina Sidhu
