‘We lost count after 800’: Video shows Torrance home overrun by migrating birds
... Kerri says the family came home from dinner to find the flock swarming around inside after swooping down their chimney, practically taking a scene out of Alfred Hitchcock’s “The Birds.”
“It’s so hard to explain. If you don’t see it with your own eyes, you’d never believe it,” Kerri said.
Video she shared shows the pulsating flock circling above the family’s chimney before many begin swooping down inside. Another clip shot later shows them up against a window inside the home, still flapping with determination.
“We lost count after 800,” Kerri said. ...
Up the coast in Montecito, just outside Santa Barbara, the local fire department says it responded to a home where 1,000 birds became trapped in a chimney Sunday night.
They’d hoped the flock would flee on its own overnight, but returned Monday morning to find them still up against the fireplace grate. Animal officials worked throughout the day and eventually created a chute system to successfully funnel the birds through the home’s back door ...
In that incident, KSBY in San Luis Obispo identified the birds as swifts.
In both Montecito and Torrance, the birds’ behavior appears to align with that of the Vaux’s swift, which is known to roost in chimneys in groups. ...
