Abstract
The Long Beach earthquake of March 10, 1933, began at 5.55 p.m. with the most severe of a succession of shocks which continued for twenty hours. At this time, about sunset, a flock of a hundred Brewer blackbirds (Euphagus cyanocephalus) had retired to roost in some medium-sized trees. M. P. Skinner records that although no preliminary shocks were felt by human beings, these birds became uneasy before the severe shock (Condor, 35, 200; 1933). During the shock the birds began to leave the roost, and rose slowly in ascending spirals above the trees to a height of about 140 ft. They then descended slowly and settled noisily in the roost; thereafter throughout the minor shocks they showed no sign of disturbance. At their usual time near dawn, meadow-larks and mocking-birds began to sing and kept up their morning songs in spite of the tremors that were occurring almost every minute.
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Birds and Earthquakes. Nature 132, 964 (1933). https://doi.org/10.1038/132964a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/132964a0