Video of Birds Hovering Over Houston Falsely Linked to Turkey-Syria Earthquake

On Feb 6, 2023, a 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck Turkey and Syria, leading to destruction and loss of life. The quake sparked an outpouring of support from people worldwide, but also a surge of false information and rumors, such as a video of a flock of birds hovering in the sky, falsely claimed to be a precursor to the earthquake.

Social Media Claims

Recently, a video has been circulating on social media claiming to show a large flock of birds hovering around the sky as a natural alarm of the recent Turkey-Syria earthquake.

Source | Archive

Caption Translation: “A huge flock of birds, before the earthquake in Turkey #DontNeglectMuslimFellowsInTurkey #PrayForTurkey”

Apart from this Facebook post, we also found the same video with the same claim here and here.

However, this claim is false as the video in question was not related to the earthquake and was not even recorded in Turkey or Syria.

Fact-Check

Fact Crescendo conducted an investigation by using the Reverse Image Search feature with the keyframes of the video in order to trace the source of the video. The result showed that the video was actually taken in Houston, Texas, back in 2017.

As reported by the Daily Mail at the time, the footage captured thousands of birds flying together in a coordinated and eerie manner, with some onlookers comparing the scene to the movie "The Birds." The exact reason for the behavior of the birds is still unknown, but experts suggest that it could be a defensive tactic against predators or a means of communication. This event had no connection to the recent earthquake in Turkey and Syria, which struck on February 6, 2023.

Source | Archive

Conclusion

A video circulating online of a large flock of birds hovering in the sky, purported to be an omen of the recent earthquake in Turkey, is entirely false. The video was actually taken in 2017 in the city of Houston, Texas, USA and had no connection whatsoever to the devastating earthquake that occurred in Turkey.

While the video was posted and shared by many people as an omen or warning of the impending natural disaster, this was simply false and could not have been the case. In fact, the video was taken two years before the event occurred, and so could not have been an indicator of the quake.