Some 4,000 duck-like migratory birds crash-landed in the parking lot of a Cedar City Wal-Mart store and other snow-covered grounds in southern Utah on Monday night.

As of Wednesday, Utah Department of Wildlife Resource (UDWR) officials and volunteers rescued 3,000 injured eared grebes and counted 1,500 dead from the parking lot, football fields, roads and other properties covered by three-inch thick snow.

The aquatic birds apparently mistook the parking lot for a body of water, where they were supposed to rest while in a migratory flight to Mexico, said Teresa Griffin of the UDWR, according to The Spectrum. A storm in the area may have confused the birds, she said.

The rescued eared grebes were dropped to the nearby Stratton Pond near Hurricane and Quail Lake near St. George to recuperate and be able to continue their annual pre-winter migration.

Mass bird crash is not uncommon. The UDWR said there were similar incidents in the area before but they were rare and involved a small number of birds.

In January, about 4,500 mainly red-winged blackbirds startled by New Year's Eve fireworks explosions were killed when these crash-landed in Arkansas.

An eared grebe.