They flew so far to die

http://www.themercury.com.au/article/2009/11/18/110481_tasmania-news.html
  The migratory birds are arriving and dying again.        I have just returned from a walk on a beach and whilst observing the desertification and eroding dune habitat created by the sand mining of the other year, which stole massive quantities of sand, trucking it away in a disruption to the nature reserve ecosystem that went on for months and months, I saw over 20 dead birds in clusters and all the way along the beach from the headland cliff rock pool area to the point.   Some partially buried, so others are probably there but obscured by drifting sand.           Past mass bird deaths are attributed to exhaustion and starvation.     Has human activity got any influence on this phenomena?