Does the video show strange behaviour of birds before the earthquake in Turkey?
Claim
Strange behaviour was observed before earthquake in #Turkey.
Pray for families.
#TurkeyEarthquake
Rating
Explanation
The devastating earthquake that rocked Turkey and Syria on 6, February 2022 has left many injured and the death toll nears 8000. A video of a flock of birds hovering in the sky is shared with the claim that it was captured right before the earthquake in Turkey and that the strange behaviour of the birds is an indication of it. Some of the posts with such a claim can be seen here, here, here, here, and here.
What is the truth?
When reverse-searching the keyframes of the viral video it is found that the video is old and unrelated to the recent earthquake in Turkey. A Daily Mail article dated 25, January 2017 is found carrying the viral video. It is mentioned that the eerie video shows a huge swarm of blackbirds hovering in the sky above a Houston freeway.
A Youtube channel named ‘Daily Picks and Flicks’ uploaded the same video on 25, January 2017 mentioning that tens of thousands of black birds soared through the city of Houston.
The Twitter account of Huffington Post UK posted an image from the viral video and a link to one of its articles is mentioned in the tweet. The article titled ‘Birds Fill The Skies Above Houston, Texas’ reported that reason for this occurrence is unknown.
Multiple old and unrelated videos are being circulated in the name of the Turkey earthquake. Youturn fact-checked them and published an article on it.
Read More: Old and unrelated visuals are shared as recent earthquake from Turkey and Syria
Conclusion
It is found that an old video of a swarm of birds hovering in the sky is falsely linked with a recent earthquake in Turkey.
Proof Links
