A suburban neighbourhood in Australia has been inundated with thousands of birds that were filmed perched on power lines and parked cars, and crowding on lawns and roads.
Footage of the massive flock taking over the streets of Nowra went viral in a video on TikTok, with the song ‘Oh no’ by Kreepa playing over the video.
The scenes have been compared to Alfred Hitchcock’s 1963 horror-thriller The Birds, in which birds suddenly and violently begin attacking people in California.
The birds in Australia are a type of white cockatoo known as corellas and are native to Shoalhaven, on the southeast coast of New South Wales.
According to 9News, the birds are highly intelligent but can also be very destructive due to their mischievous nature.
However, there is little the residents of the street can do to curb their behaviour as corellas are a protected species in Australia. Any measures to reduce their numbers first require a permit form the National Parks and Wildlife Service.
This is not the first time corellas have descended in large numbers on towns and cities in Australia, as they search for different food sources and habitats.
According to Sean Dooley of Birdlife Australia, in areas where the corellas gather “in super abundance”, they have been known to muscle out less aggressive parrot species.
He told ABC: “Once the corellas have arrived on the coast, which has generally been from the late 90s onwards, we think in some ways associated with the millennium drought which pushed them out of their normal range, they have just boomed in numbers and never left.”
The huge flocks may also have been driven out of previous habitats, said Professor Gisella Kaplan from the University of New England, adding that the massive numbers may not be an indication that the corella population is growing
She said corellas prefer to move in flocks of 20 to 30 birds, but the thousand-strong flocks could be a result of different flocks fleeing from multiple areas and flocking together.
“In most cases, it happens when there is a dire shortage of food and water or the heat gets so bad they have to flee inland.
“We need to help them survive because in some cases it could be that the huge flock may be the sum total of all the birds that exist in that state and that entire huge region,” she added.
