Residents of Winnipeg’s North End awoke Wednesday morning to another standard day of life in Winnipeg, plus a death-storm of black birds falling from the sky.

Before the grackle-storm began, hundreds of birds began to swarm the city’s trees, cars, and buildings, taking their cue from Hitchcock. They then began flying around in a “dizzy” and confused manner, before eventually falling one by one to the street.

Witnesses estimate they saw as many as 1000 birds fall from the sky. “You couldn’t step anywhere without stepping on a bird,” Susan Tiganagis told the CBC.

The surviving birds have been rescued, and will either be rehabilitated or euthanized. Experts have yet to confirm the cause of the birds’ death, though we suspect the cause to be the melodramatic release of character tension inevitably leading to conflict resolution. 

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Jeremy Schipper is an intern who likes movies with swarms of animals at Toronto Standard. You can follow him on Twitter at @jeromeoschipps.

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