While I was at my parents’ last weekend, we noticed a huge swarm of birds pecking in the backyard grass. They just kept coming, and coming, and coming… and then at one point, they all flew off (at the same time of course, in only the uncanny way birds can achieve). But they didn’t go far – only to the roof in the front of the house.
Back and forth, back and forth, from the front yard to the back. At some point, they all flew away together for good:
In the background, you can see a local community college. Just beyond our fence is protected prairie grass – it is against the law to cut it. It extends down the entire subdivision, in both directions. We lucked out however – just on the left side, you can see a small natural path of grass. W’e’re one of the few houses which has a path out to the college. Everyone else has to walk a bit.
Of course, the one thing the prairie grass hides is coyotes – we could never leave the dogs unattended while they were outside. I heard you could sometimes see coyote eyes staring back at you at night…
Life in the Hague 
That would have freaked me out. Every time I see a lot of birds at one place, I think of Hitchcock’s movie. I was little when I saw it, it really traumatized me.
Me too. I always think of the phone booth scene.