50,000 birds descend on Texas shopping mall, and the noise is deafening, video shows

Tens of thousands of birds took over a mall parking lot in southern Texas this month, creating a surreal “phenomenon” that at times resembled a horror movie.

Texas Parks and Wildlife officials estimate as many as 50,000 purple martins descended on Las Tiendas Plaza, a shopping mall in McAllen, near the Mexico border.

Video recorded by state parks staff shows the birds filled the sky at sunset, swirling in groups as they searched for a spot to roost in trees. The noise was deafening, with flapping wings and chirping combining into an extended hiss.

“Don’t look up,” one park ranger warns in the video. “The sky is alive.”

The daily migration to the lot continued for days, state officials said. It did not pose any threat to humans, but gallons of poop fell in the process, covering the ground like icing on a cupcake.

The video was recorded in mid-August by staff from nearby Bentsen-Rio Grande Valley State Park, who called it an example of “drama in the natural world.” The birds were still showing up this week, officials said.

Purple martins are “hardwired to migrate” to certain spots in late summer, according to the video. They typically gather at dusk and roost overnight after a day of feeding, officials said. Most will be gone by September, when they typically migrate south.

The birds are known to eat and drink as they fly, according to All About Birds. “They form such dense gatherings that you can easily see them on weather radar. It’s particularly noticeable in the early morning as the birds leave their roosts for the day, and looks like an expanding doughnut on the radar map,” the site reports.

This story was originally published August 28, 2020 at 6:38 AM with the headline "50,000 birds descend on Texas shopping mall, and the noise is deafening, video shows."