Mystery surrounds what caused 200 birds to "fall like rain" outside a hospital.
The strange incident took place at around 9am on November 26, in Ferrol, north-western Spain.
Local media, reporting on it, said that the dead starlings, once falling, hit cards and pedestrians outside the Juan Cardona Hospital, although police confirmed that nobody was actually hurt by it.
Mapi Rodríguez, president of the local resident association, told local media: "They came out of the trees in the emergency area of the hospital, flew a few metres and plummeted to the pavement.
"The birds have been collected and we are now waiting to find out what happened.
"We are told it won't be easy."
Two of the hundreds of dead birds have been taken by a regional environment agency for analysis, and Ferrol City Council has also joined in on the investigation.
A similar event took place earlier this year in nearby Tarragona when hundreds of birds fell from the sky due to toxic chemicals which had been released by a petrochemical plant in the area.
Starlings are known to fly in large synchronised groups, so if the cause of the mass deaths in Ferrol was of a similar nature, the amount of birds falling would make sense – but, as yet, no cause or reason for the incident has been given.
One rumour in local media is that they were electrocuted on a nearby powerline, but this has not been confirmed.
The hospital itself is located just on the edge of the Ria de Ferrol river, which bleeds out into the Bay of Biscay.
It is also located near a university, supermarket and a metropolitan area – but nothing which would release dangerous chemicals into the sky – according to a search on Google Maps.
There is also a local park next door, called the Residencia Mista de Mairoes, which is why much of the local wildlife can be found, according to local sources.
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