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Fact Check: Did A Swarm Of Blackbirds Recently Launch An Attack In Saudi Arabia?
Writer: Aditi Chattopadhyay
Aditi, part of the fact checking team of The Logical Indian likes to read, write, cook and laugh, in short live life as it is supposed to be. What makes her fascinated is to discover the truth behind a story and more often than not, it is either fact or myth at the end.
India, 30 May 2020 11:26 AM GMT | Updated 30 May 2020 4:10 PM GMT
Editor : Bharat Nayak |
As the founding editor, Bharat had been heading the newsroom during the formation years of the organization and worked towards editorial policies, conceptualizing and designing campaign strategies and collaborations. He believes that through the use of digital media, one could engage the millennial's in rational conversations about pertinent social issues, provoking them to think and bring a behavioral change accordingly.
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The Logical Indian Fact Check team investigates a video that shows a swarm of blackbirds attack at a parking lot in Saudi Arabia.
A video of a swarm of blackbirds outside a Walmart store is being circulated on social media platforms with the claim that it is of a recent incident in Saudi Arabia.
"Crows not allowing customers to come out of supermarket in Saudi ..
is it the beginning of the end of the world ??," reads the caption of one such post. It has been shared over 2000 times.
Crows not allowing customers to come out of super market in Saudi ..
— Roop Darak HINDU (@iRupND) May 28, 2020
is it the beginning of the end of the world ??🙄 pic.twitter.com/5NKy0bXSqR
The claim has been shared several times on both Twitter and Facebook.
Filmmaker Anurag Kashyap also retweeted the viral video.
The video shows a swarm of blackbirds descending on a car parked outside a supermarket.
The video clip is being shared at a time when there are reports of the worst locust attack in 27 years in a few states of North India.
Claim:
Video shows a swarm of blackbirds attack on cars at a parking lot in Saudi Arabia.
Fact Check:
The claim is false.
A Google Reverse Image search was done by breaking the video into individual frames and using InVid.
This led to a Facebook post shared by Daily Mail which had the viral video. This post was shared on April 18.
The video mentions at 21 seconds that the location of the video is HMart in Texas. It was credited to a website called Viral Hog.
The original video was uploaded by Viral Hog on April 17.
According to the description of the video, the incident occurred on December 6, 2016.
"I left H-mart and was returning to my car with groceries. I noticed the birds were very noisy as I was leaving, but the sky wasn't filled with them as bad as shown in the video. I got to my car while some people waiting at the entrance of the building watching. They were smart for waiting because in the next minute, my car got pooped on big time. As you can see, the area filled with birds very quickly. Apparently, these are blackbirds and they gather just as the sun goes down. I don't know the exact scientific reason for it, but there is one and it happens often. I remember seeing groups of birds like this a lot when I was younger, but it was never ever this many!," reads the description of the video.
Comparison of Scenes Of Viral And Original Video
Below is a screenshot of the original video uploaded by Viral Hog.
Below is a screenshot from the viral video.
The comparison shows that both videos are the same.
Comparison of location
Below is a screenshot from Google street of view of the location of the video.
Below is a screenshot from the viral video.
Therefore, it can be ascertained that the location of the viral video is H Mart in Texas and the video is old.
If you have any news that you believe needs to be fact-checked, please email us at factcheck@thelogicalindian.com or WhatsApp at 6364000343
Also Read: Fact Check: Ancient Temples Found After The Demolition Of Muslims Homes In Kashi?
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