[New Tang Dynasty News, Beijing time, October 21, 2025]Recently, strange phenomena have occurred in northern China. A large number of swallows have been stranded, and they have not flown south for the winter, and many of them have frozen to death. Swallows have always been regarded as auspicious birds, and many people believe that a swallow freezing to death is a bad omen.
On October 20, some netizens posted a video saying that a strange phenomenon occurred in Wuchang City, Heilongjiang Province. A large number of swallows did not fly south for the winter and ended up freezing to death.
“They will all freeze to death. They can’t fly away. As for the hot spot outside my house, they just stay there. There seem to be more than a hundred of them. Many of them are dead. There is nothing we can do.” said the netizen who shot the video.
An abnormal phenomenon occurred in Northeast China. A large number of swallows stopped flying south and froze to death. pic.twitter.com/UnUZPG2sVM
— ying tang (@yingtan04410735) October 21, 2025
Swallows have been regarded as auspicious birds since ancient times. The phenomenon of a large number of swallows in northern China freezing to death due to their failure to fly south has sparked heated debate.
Some netizens believe that this may be caused by climate anomalies. The temperature in the north has dropped sharply recently, and the swallows have no time to migrate. “We also feel like winter has suddenly entered in one day.”
There are also many netizens who believe that the phenomenon of swallows not flying south is abnormal and an ominous sign: “If something is abnormal, there must be a monster.” “Animals cannot tolerate a year of irregular wind and rain.”
“I was on the road in the morning, and I seemed to see a few dead ones on the road. I didn’t pay attention at the time and thought they were sparrows, but now I think about it, I was wrong.”
Every winter, swallows from the north fly south to spend the winter. This is a natural phenomenon. The “White Dew” in China’s twenty-four solar terms has three phases: “The first phase is when the swans come, the second phase is when the black birds return, and the third phase is when the flocks of birds are showing off their shyness.”
This means that after the white dew season, the weather gets colder, and geese and swallows begin to migrate south for the winter. The “blackbirds”, the barn swallows, began to migrate southward en masse in search of a paradise place to spend the winter.
“The Collection of the Seventy-Two Hours of the Moon Order” says: “The swallow is a bird from the south, so it is said to return.” The weather gets cold during the white dew season, and the swallows will return to their hometown in the south to escape the cold.
This year, the “Bai Lu” solar term falls on September 7. A folk proverb says: “The autumn wind of Bai De brings a cool night.” It should be from that time that swallows will begin to leave the north and fly south to spend the winter.
However, until late October, a large number of swallows in Northeast China still failed to fly south and were frozen to death. This is a very abnormal phenomenon in the eyes of the people.
Recently, a strange phenomenon has occurred in Hebei, Henan, Sichuan, Inner Mongolia and other places in China. Thousands of crows are hovering over the cities like black clouds, which is quite alarming.
Recently, crows have been flying all over the sky in Hebei, Henan, Sichuan, Inner Mongolia and other places. pic.twitter.com/DOAquyjhhe
— Tiantian (@tiantian108) October 20, 2025
An eyewitness in Datong, Shanxi Province said that he heard a cry of “ahhh” above his head. When he looked up, he saw that the sky was full of crows, which lasted for about 2 hours.
In traditional Chinese culture, crows are regarded as “mourning birds” or “unlucky birds”. The Tang Dynasty’s “Chief Yang Zazu” records: “There is no good sound on the ground when the crows sing.” There is a folk proverb: “If a crow flies over its head, there will be disaster if there is no disaster.” Many people believe that the unusually large number of crows in many places in China indicates that disaster may be coming.
(Comprehensive reporting by reporter Luo Tingting/Editor in charge: Fan Ming)
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