No, we're sure what the cause was, but …
It has been reported upon in the more respected press organs — no guarantee in these days of ‘reporters’ copypasting Twitterstorms without fact-checking, but it’s what we’ve got, so …
We do normally take precautions to ensure our pets are reassured and calmed when fireworks are being let off, so it’s reasonable to expect that wild animals will be similarly alarmed.
It’s unusual … the first time I’ve ever heard of it … but, given that, under normal circumstances, large firework displays are accompanied by lots of disturbance for days in advance whilst preparations take place … and for a significant period prior to their commencement …. usually, the birds have plenty of forewarning and flee the area in advance, so it likely doesn’t normally happen. Moreover, for nearly a year now, they will have become accustomed to a much quieter world around them, so, it’s not beyond the bounds of possibility that younger birds might’ve been shocked by the sudden, unaccustomed racket.
I haven’t paid attention to Rome specifically over the last year, so, I don’t know how quiet it’s been there, let alone for it to have been sufficiently so for this to have uniquely arisen there … but what other reason could there be? It’s not like anyone has piped up and said there’s been a programme of putting down poisons in the interim … or that there was a leak from a nearby chemical plant that resulted in a toxic cloud over Rome at that precise moment.
Either way around, there are plenty of other ways to have an “ooh, aah” experience … such as letting off paper balloons that float away in clouds of colourful light … so, really … even though I love fireworks myself … given how many species are dying out these days ¹ … I’d really rather we took precautions than not.
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¹ We don’t even know whether hedgehogs are on the verge of extinction in the UK because you don’t even see them squashed dead on the roads any more 😒 … and, whereas when I was a kid they were absolutely everywhere, it’s been decades since I saw a proper ‘cockney’ sparrow in London 😒
