Scientists figured out why fish fell from the sky in Texarkana, and it’s pretty gross

Two independent researchers say they may have gotten to the bottom of what caused fish to fall from the sky late last year in Texarkana: bird regurgitation.

Many in the east Texas town were shocked in late December when they found fish (later identified as shad) scattered on the streets and on their homes and cars following a storm.

It wasn’t the firt time people reported fish falling from the sky, and some experts tried to explain the phenomenon as waterspouts picking up fish or other marine lifeforms. But National Weather Service meteorologists told in January that no such weather activity was reported near Texarkana during that time.

“As we looked at the storm and went back and looked at the data, we really didn’t find anything that would indicate that there was any kind of waterspout.” said Brandon Thorne, a meteorologist for NWS Shreveport in January. “We’re kind of confused as to how it happened as well, to be honest.”

Last week, Sharon Hill, a geologist and independent researcher based in Pennsylvania, and Paul Cropper, an author in Australia, shared their findings that a flock of birds may have regurgitated the fish while flying over the east Texas town.

“We’re both interested in finding out what, if anything, happened in a strange situation,” Hill said. “We’re not going to be dismissive, we’re not going to default to a paranormal explanation, but we’re looking to document what happened and what can be the possible natural causes.”

Both had conducted investigations in the past related to natural phenomena, but this was the first time that they had worked together. The pair investigated multiple hypotheses, including if the whole incident was a hoax.

“This was one of the better ones, because we had never seen fish-fall being documented over such a wide area,” she said.

Shortly after reports about the Texarkana incident, the two-person team started to contact people who had reported seeing the fish.

Some of the hypotheses, such as those that involved a waterspout, were ruled out because local weather officials did not report any tornadic activity in the area, Hill said.

One of the first hypotheses that the two investigated was whether flooding washed up fish onto the ground. Fish, however, were found above ground level, such as in truck beds and rooftops, Hill said.

They also looked into whether fish may have been dropped from a plane, but no records backed up that theory.

“Some lakes and larger bodies of water are stocked by planes,” she said. “It’s rare, but it does happen.”

As they made their way through the different possibilities, Hill said evidence seemed to point toward birds — cormorants, specifically.

“The last one that we knew that was a reasonable explanation was the birds, either carrying them in their beaks, their talons or their stomachs,” Hill said.

The University of Texas Biodiversity Center in Austin will help verify the findings of the investigation, Hill said, but he added the two-person team is confident of their conclusion.

Hill said she and Cropper spoke with residents in the area who said they had seen cormorants around the time of the fish falling from the sky.

Additionally, they spoke to officials at the Texarkana Regional Airport who said cormorants were common near the facility.

“Usually they fly down in the morning,” said Paul Mehrlich, the executive director of the regional airport. “They go between two different lakes that are in the area and you’ll see hundreds of them flying over at a time.”

The storm on Dec. 29 moved through the area around the time that he and other staff regularly see cormorants flying over the airport, Mehrlich said. The birds migrate through the area between fall and spring, he added.

That same day, Mehrlich said staff found fish “all over” the airport runway. Crews shoveled up about ten pounds of fish, and caused a delay for one of the planes at the airport.

Russell Henderson, the operations manager of the airport, said he spoke with someone aboard the delayed aircraft, and remembered how surprised they were at the sight of the fish.

“He said, ‘Hey Russ, have you ever, in your life, seen anything like this?” Henderson recalled.

Mehrlich said airport staff, too, initially thought the fish were carried by a waterspout.

“The next morning we had all those birds flying over us again, and we were like, ‘Oh my gosh, it was around the time that birds were flying back,’” he said. “And the fish were kind of chewed up.’”