Tsunami Warning from Birds

On 25th of December there was unusual behavior of birds(grouping irrespective of species,jittery actions,moving from tree to tree in groups, unusual calls but relatively soft) atleast a 1000 of them moving from the land towards the sea at around 5.30 PM.

My mother (also a student of the course) and myself were scared about the unusual behavior,the words 'natural calamity' escaped my mouth without us realising what was going to happen 12 hrs hence.I checked the television immediately for any news,in the morning we noticed there was no usual chirping of birds, the familiar crow(with a hooked beak) that comes at 5.45AM for the mandatory rice did not turn up,there was unusual calm in the locality full of parakeets,tree pie,grey shrike,crows,paraih kites,egrets,bulbuls,small bee eater,kingfishers,the pet peacock next door and many more.

The tremor occured at around 6.40 AM, there was still calm,we did not realise why they moved towards the sea,the tsunami was yet to come devastating whatever and whoever lay in its course for the first 200 meters from the sea.Only later in the day there was mild activity of birds.We live at Neelangarai(south chennai suburb), about 750 meters from the sea.

On research in the study material we found only a reference to in page 139 (vol 1) 3rd para about sensitivity of birds to infrasonic frequencies during seismic and meterological disturbances.I am writing this to you to not only enrich my knowledge in ornithology but also to help tell the world, people should be aware of natural predictors who warn us well in advance.

Technology predicts only of aftershocks of earthquake.This account may seem unreal to many,but we still shudder at the thought that we could have saved thousands of people along the coast.