Scientists believe fireworks caused the birds to panic and fly aimlessly into homes, cars, trees and even each other over a 1.5-square-mile area.
The impacts are thought to have caused the major blunt trauma suffered by all of the dead birds that littered the town’s streets, yards and roofs.
The few birds that managed to survive their injuries were seen stumbling around on New Year’s Day like hungover revelers.
About 100 miles away, an estimated 100,000 dead drum fish littered a 20-mile stretch of the Arkansas River on New Year’s Day.
Arkansas Game and Fish Commission officers said the fish kill and bird fatalities were unrelated.
Large numbers of dead birds were also found about the same time in unrelated cases in Louisiana and Sweden.