Highway A2 free after cleaning up dozens of starlings near Vinkeveen | Inland

It is unclear why the starlings fell dead from the air on the road surface around 2.30 pm. “We do not have a picture of how it happened,” said a spokeswoman for Rijkswaterstaat. However, photos from cameras on the road show that the birds are scattered across the lanes.

In connection with the prevailing bird flu, Rijkswaterstaat has contacted the Dutch Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority (NVWA), but they “usually do not respond to these kinds of reports,” explains the spokeswoman for Rijkswaterstaat. It was then decided not to clear the animals by hand, but to have a cleaning truck come. “So that any illnesses would not spread to our employees.”

When asked, the NVWA says it is not thinking about bird flu, because then “no whole flock of birds will fall from the sky, the experts here let me know,” says a spokesperson. “It looks more like a startle reaction from these birds, and that they ended up on the highway and were killed in that way.” It is possible that the starlings are startled by a bird of prey and then start a dive. “And that is not so convenient above a highway.”

During the recovery, traffic to Amsterdam from the Oudenrijn junction was diverted via the A12. By 5 p.m. everything was cleared and all lanes were reopened.

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