Hundreds of birds die each year in mysterious mass suicide at high-altitude lakes

Each year in an Eastern part of Ecuador, high in the Andes, a strange avian phenomenon occurs.

Hundreds of small birds known as 'cuvivies' fall dead after throwing themselves into the freezing lake waters considered sacred by the local community.

Researchers are now trying to find why this happens around this time each year. Ornithologist Tatiana Santander has dismissed the possibility of sickness.

"This happens every year, so it's a bit hard to prove that the birds are sick and die this way," Santander said to Euronews.

Another theory is that sulphuric steam from the lakes is intoxicating the birds, however, no other local species, including the human population, appear to suffer from this.

Santander believes the weather may be behind the mysterious actions of the birds, with strong winds causing the birds fall into the lake, suffer thermal shock and drown.

Whatever the reason for the birds' behaviour, they are celebrated by the locals who even throw a special festival each year.

According to indigenous beliefs, the cuvivies end their lives to honour Apus or the spirits living in the sacred lake while on their annual migration from Alaska to Argentina.

There are so many dead birds by the end of October each year that the locals have even started incorporating them into their diet.