A student reported an unusual suspicious circumstance on the north Cooper Street bridge to UTA police at 6:24 a.m. Monday, assistant police chief Rick Gomez said.

Sixteen dead birds were arranged in a circle with two additional birds in the middle.

Mathematics sophomore Eric Moraw said he saw the circle of birds while walking back from the Maverick Activities Center around 11 p.m. He said they weren’t there when he walked by just before 10 p.m. He said he saw the birds several feet from the bottom of the stairs on the east side of the bridge.

“I was a little shocked at first,” he said. “I wasn’t sure if the birds were fake or if I was really witnessing somebody’s weird idea of a joke. There was no sign or anything else that I saw besides the birds. So if someone was trying to send a message, it isn’t clear.”

The cause of death was not apparent, but one looked like its head may have been stepped on, Gomez said.

Police do not know why the birds were left that way or who may have done it.

“It could have been a prank or they could have been used as some kind of religious ritual. We’re just guessing right now,” Gomez said.

The birds were cleared from the scene.