Thousands of migrating birds were killed or injured after seemingly mistaking parking lots, football fields and various other snow-covered areas of southern Utah for bodies of water and dropping to the ground in what a state wildlife specialist called the worst mass bird crash anyone has ever seen.

Cleanup crews went to work scooping up the dead birds and saving the wounded survivors after the creatures crash-landed in the St. George area Monday night.

By midday Wednesday, volunteers had rescued more than 3,000 birds; liberating them into a nearby pond. Though there has been no official count as to how many fowl have died, officials estimate that it's in excess of 1,500.

No human injury or property damage has been reported. Officials say that recent stormy conditions almost certainly perplexed the flock of eared grebes, a duck-like aquatic bird making its way to the Mexican coast for the winter.

The birds nose-dived into a Cedar City Wal-Mart parking lot, football fields, and highways and over miles and miles of property that had been covered by about 3 inches of glinting snow. On Tuesday residents collected surviving grebes and transported them in cardboard boxes to the wildlife department's office.

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Officers said once they let go of the birds into several bodies of water in southern Utah's Washington County, as well as a pond near Hurricane, and the water-loving creatures were active and normal again.

Many of the birds had broken wings or a number of injuries from the accident. Wildlife agency spokesman Lynn Chamberlain said the birds' hollow bones can heal, although volunteers can't really do much to speed up the process. Keeping them in water, where they have food and won't have to fly, pick up their chances.

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