A family in Torrance, California whose home was recently bum-rushed by a massive flock of birds is sharing their Hitchcockian nightmare tale with the public. For those with a chimney, you’ve been warned.
According to KTLA, the invasion started on Wednesday, April 21. The woman who lives there, Kerri, says that she and her husband and child returned to the home from dinner only to find a swarm of birds inside. The sons of bitches had acquired access through the chimney.
“It’s so hard to explain. If you don’t see it with your own eyes, you’d never believe it,” she said.
You can see the flock descend upon the unlucky residence in the video above. Weirder than that, the footage also shows birds lining up behind their window, flapping away in an upstairs hallway, and also leaving behind bird dumps on their couch.
“We lost count after 800,” Kerri added.
She also says that she was put in touch with county animal control officials by the local sheriff’s department. Their solution, no doubt informed by a lifetime of expertise, was to leave the doors open. Unfortunately, the birds sound like they reacted like many-a-confused-indoor-bug before them.
“They acted like they wanted to get out, but they wasn’t going nowhere,” said a family relative who was cool enough to help with the situation. “They were just flying around, just everywhere, every room in the house, every bathroom.”
The relative says he sported a hood and mask as protection.
“They were just beaming off my head,” he said.
The family stayed at a hotel while the relative did his best to deal with the situation. The birds were eventually relaxed enough to fall asleep.
“The second night I actually woke up to a bird flapping in my room. So basically just pull the covers over my head and started screaming,” Kerri said.
She also referenced the aforementioned bird poops, saying “You couldn’t walk in any spot in the living room, the kitchen, and the hallway without stepping on bird droppings.”
About 100 miles away, in Montecito, a local fire department was also dealing with a situation in which 1,000 birds got stuck in a chimney. That ordeal, which occurred on Sunday night, was rectified the next day when animal officials developed a chute system that transported the bird through that home’s back door.
All birds involved are believed to have been going through Southern California while they migrate north.
The owner of a bird control company in the area says he’s dealt with several bird nuisance calls lately. As written by KTLA, his advice is for residents to close their chimney flues, and to also make sure their chimney spark arrestors (explanation here) haven’t been opened or rusted out.
