Authors
Kushel HM is a mechanical engineer-turned-journalist, who loves all things football, tennis and films. He was with the news desk at the Hindustan Times, Mumbai, before joining Newschecker.
After videos of birds flying in confusion ahead of the Turkey earthquake went viral, social media users are now sharing footage of a murder of crows invading a neighbourhood, allegedly in Japan, and claiming that the strange behaviour was a premonition of something like an extreme-weather event.
The devastating earthquake in Turkey has triggered a host of misinformation around it, among which are videos showing birds exhibiting unnatural behaviour, as can be seen here and here. Some of the videos have been debunked, including this one by Newschecker, which found that the viral video was shot over the Houston freeway in the US, in 2017.
The archived version of the posts can be seen here, here and here.
Fact check
Newschecker ran a reverse image search of keyframes of the video, which led us to this report, on a Mexican publication dated January 26, 2023, stating that hundreds of birds invaded a few houses in Mexico.
On comparing, we noticed that the houses seen in the viral video and in the photos featured in the article were identical, confirming that they were from the same event. However, the article did not state the reason for the erratic behaviour of the birds, but revealed that the viral video was first shared on TikTok by one @josueresndiz.
A clearer version of the video was featured on this MSN webpage, stating “Massive flock of birds gather on single street”.
We closely analysed the licence plate of one of the vehicles that was seen in the video and saw the words “Guanajuato” on it, which we learnt is a central Mexican state, confirming that the incident was in Mexico.
Conclusion
Video of a massive flock of birds invading a neighbourhood in Mexico falsely claimed to be from Japan.
Result: False
Sources
Image analysis
Net Noticias report, dated January 26, 2023
If you would like us to fact-check a claim, give feedback or lodge a complaint, WhatsApp us at 9999499044 or email us at checkthis@newschecker.in. You can also visit the Contact Us page and fill the form.
Authors
Kushel HM is a mechanical engineer-turned-journalist, who loves all things football, tennis and films. He was with the news desk at the Hindustan Times, Mumbai, before joining Newschecker.
