This eerie footage showing hundreds of birds flocking to a powerline at night had many social media users worried it might be an ominous sign of a natural disaster.
The frenzied swarm was spotted filling the skies above a street in Lijiang, a city in south-western China’s Yunnan Province.
In the video – shared on Douyin, China’s version of TikTok – countless swallows are seen densely perched on multiple power lines, while many others are restlessly flying around.
Ms Li, who captured the peculiar scene, said she was passing through the city and panicked upon noticing the birds.
She spoke to several locals who reportedly told her the swallows had been there for the past three or four days.
The video caused quite a stir on social media, with many users dubbing it a precursor of doom.
One user titled ‘A sheet’ said in a comment: “An earthquake must be coming.”
Another user titled ‘fish tears’ wrote: “I experienced an earthquake in Chuxiong. Birds were flying all over the sky just like this a week before the earthquake.”
And user ‘arts’ said: “Remember not to sleep naked.”
Local merchants, however, told local media that the swallows’ behaviour is regularly seen around their city.
They attributed it to the hot and humid weather rather than a potential natural disaster.
Staff with the Yongsheng County Seismological Bureau said they have not detected any anomalies on their monitoring instruments so far.
They also dismissed the birds’ behaviour as a usual occurrence that does not have a significant relationship with earthquakes.
