LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) - It was not a good year to be a bird in Arkansas.

2011 began with a bang, or, rather, lots of bangs as New Year's revelers set off fireworks that flushed thousands of blackbirds and sent them colliding into houses, cars and each other. The discombobulated birds plummeted to their deaths in Beebe and ruffled the feathers of many a conspiracy theorist.

Red-winged blackbirds rained down on rooftops, sidewalks, streets and fields. One struck a woman walking her dog. Another hit a police cruiser.

Geese in North Little Rock fared a little better.

A park ranger wanted the birds to get off the golf course and soccer fields and into the bellies of Arkansas' hungriest residents. But a week before the hunt, the mayor spared them from getting cooked.

(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)