In recent days, a phenomenon has been observed in northern China where a large number of swallows have lingered instead of flying south for the winter, resulting in many of them freezing to death. Swallows have traditionally been regarded as auspicious birds, and many believe that their freezing to death is a bad omen.
On October 20th, a netizen posted a video claiming that in Wuchang City, Heilongjiang Province, a strange phenomenon occurred where a large number of swallows did not migrate south for the winter and ended up freezing to death alive.
“They would freeze to death because they can’t fly away. It’s warmer near my home, so they just stay there as if there are more than a hundred of them, and many have died. It’s helpless,” said the netizen who filmed the video.
The phenomenon of a large number of swallows in northern China not flying south and freezing to death has sparked discussions.
Some netizens believe that this may be caused by abnormal weather patterns. With the sudden drop in temperatures in the north recently, the swallows did not have time to migrate. “It feels like we just went from autumn to winter overnight,” some commented.
Many netizens also consider the swallows not migrating south to be quite unusual and a bad omen: “When things go abnormally, evil spirits are bound to be present.” “In a year with erratic weather patterns, animals cannot endure.”
“I saw a few dead swallows on the road in the morning. At that time, I didn’t pay much attention and thought they were sparrows. Looking back now, it doesn’t seem right.”
Every winter, swallows from the north fly south to winter, which is a natural phenomenon. The twenty-four solar terms in China have the “White Dew” with three notes: “The arrival of the wild geese, the return of the black birds, and the flock of birds protecting their delicacies.”
This means that after the White Dew season, as the weather gets colder, migratory birds like geese and swallows begin flying south to find a place to winter. “Black birds” refer to house swallows, which begin migrating southward collectively in search of wintering grounds.
According to the “Collection and Explanation of the Seventy-Two Solar Terms” When it is White Dew season, the weather gets cooler, and the swallows need to return to their southern home to avoid the cold.
This year, the “White Dew” solar term fell on September 7th. There is a saying, “Autumn wind on the night of White Dew, one night cold, one night chill.” Starting from that time, the swallows should have started leaving the north and flying south for the winter.
However, even by late October, there are still large numbers of swallows in northeastern China that have not flown south and have frozen to death alive, which is seen as a very unusual phenomenon by the public.
Recently, there has also been an anomaly in various parts of China such as Hebei, Henan, Sichuan, Inner Mongolia, where tens of thousands of crows have been seen swirling like dark clouds in the sky above urban areas, which is quite alarming.
An eyewitness in Datong, Shanxi, reported hearing crow calls above, and upon looking up, they saw the sky filled with crows for about 2 hours continuously.
In Chinese traditional culture, crows are considered as “birds of ill omen” or “birds of bad luck.” In the Tang Dynasty’s “Qiu Yang Za Zhou,” it is recorded: “Crows cawing on the ground bring no good news.” There is a folk proverb: “If crows pass over one’s head, disaster is inevitable.” Many people believe that the abnormal presence of crows in many parts of China could be a sign that disasters are imminent.