A Torrance, California, homeowner entered her house earlier this week to find that hundreds of birds had found their way inside and refused to leave. Three days and a fair amount of property damage later, a homeowner known only as Kerri in an Inside Edition report had to get help manually removing more than 800, and maybe as many as 1,500, birds from the residence — apparently something that happened when birds looking for a safe and secure place to roost found that the grate at the top of the home’s chimney was either missing or compromised, and invited themselves in. Then, they refused to fly out on their own.
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According to the Inside Edition report, Kerri called animal control, but their only advice was to open the doors and wait for the birds to leave on their own. When they didn’t move, she reached out to her mother’s boyfriend, who helped remove them.
You can see the…heh…tweet below.
🐦😲 SCARY!!!! Take a look more than 800 birds invaded his family’s home in California! The animals refused to fly away. The family was forced to remove all 800 birds by hand from their home. pic.twitter.com/FQjI26fj9q
— John-Carlos Estrada (@Mr_JCE) April 29, 2021
“They were just bouncing off your head,” Inside Edition quotes the mother’s boyfriend, Patrick Belleville, as saying. You can see him clearing birds in the video above. “As soon as I walked in the door, I was looking for Alfred Hitchcock.”
Jeff Corwin, a wildlife biologist and TV host, explained why they refused to leave. It was also Corwin who chimed in to suggest anyone who has a chimney should check the screen or grate in the chimney, which can help prevent chaos like this from invading your home.
“They roost in the home where they want to begin their families,” Corwin explained. “They are taking advantage of what they feel is good structure and away from predators.”
