On the evening of March 15, a flock of crows appeared in Tiedong District, Siping City, Jilin Province.
There were various theories circulating on the Internet, among which some netizens suspected that it was a “precursor of an earthquake”.
On the 16th, the staff of the Wildlife Management Section of the Siping Forestry Bureau said that due to the local snow and cooling, groups of crows flew to the urban area for food, which had nothing to do with other circumstances such as the earthquake.
Netizens have different opinions. Some people say that it has just snowed in the city and these crows have come to the city for heating and foraging. Some people say that they have also seen flocks of crows flying by in other places. Others say that at 2:44 a.m, on March 16, an earthquake of magnitude 4.3 occurred in Ningjiang District, Songyuan City, Jilin Province, and it was suspected that the flying crows were related to the earthquake.
As of 2 pm on March 16, no earthquake has occurred in Siping City, Jilin Province. The map shows that Ningjiang District, Songyuan City, where a magnitude 4.3 earthquake occurred that day, is about 200 kilometers away from Tiedong District, Siping City.
Residents of Mei Yayuan Community, Tiedong District, Siping City, said that at about 6:40 pm on March 15, they saw many crows flying by at home as if they were foraging.
At about 10 am on March 15, the Siping Meteorological Observatory issued a blue warning signal for ice and snow, it is expected that in the next 24 hours, due to the influence of rain and snow, snowy and icy roads will appear in Siping City, Shuangliao City, Lishu County, and Yitong County. This will have a certain impact on traffic. The Municipal Meteorological Bureau and the Municipal Emergency Management Bureau jointly remind urban and rural residents and relevant departments to take precautions.
On the 16th, a staff member of the Wildlife Management Department of the Siping Forestry Bureau said that crows are the common name for several blackbirds in the Corvidae family of passerines, also known as old squirrels. Among the various forest types such as mountains, plains, and mountain broad-leaved forests, mixed coniferous and broad-leaved forests, coniferous forests, secondary weed forests, and artificial forests, sparse forests and forest margins are more common, and most of them are resident birds, not migratory birds. Strong in clusters, they are forest and grassland birds. They mostly nest in trees. They mainly feed on the ground. They are omnivorous and eat grains, berries, insects, carrion, and eggs of other birds. They are distributed around the world.
“This is not the first time that flocks of crows have been flying over in Siping City. It happened once in November 2021. This is a normal phenomenon in nature, and people don’t need to panic.” The staff of the Wildlife Management Department of Siping Forestry Bureau said that it had snowed in Siping recently, and the temperature in the wild dropped.
It is difficult to find food in the wild. In addition, the temperature in the urban area is higher than that in the wild. This group of crows will fly into the urban area for food. It is actually a kind of self-help, the crows flying into the city in droves has nothing to do with other things, the residents should not approach the crows, and don’t have to worry.