Dave wrote:
 > I went to a festival tonight in Nara and noticed on my way that there
 >  were swarms of birds gathered throught the trees flying restlessly
 > in several directions. Then my girlfriend reminded me that before the
 > Kobe earthquake people noticed the same thing. Just wondering if
 > anyone noticed any strange behaviour or knows anything else about
 > this phenomenon. Needless to say, she freaked me out!!!
 >
A couple of things (and I was living in Kobe Chuo ku at the time of the
earthquake). One, early in the morning (the earthquake happened early) 
birds do tend to flutter about, generally speaking. But I rarely see any 
birds in January, which was when the earthquake hit. They tend to fly 
south; the exception would be pigeons, which seem to always be in a 
constant state of flurry. Also, I've read nearly every account online 
that I can find about the earthquake and I've never read anything 
related to birds going haywire. They probably can feel minor tremors, 
and it seems to me I've seen on TV various other theories (that didn't 
stick with me) about why animals can 'detect' earthquakes, at least to 
some minor extent. One note about the earthquake that I've rarely seen 
mentioned. The night before there was a small earhquake, enough to shake 
the windows and knock over a picture or two in my friend's apartment 
(where we were having a small party).

John W.