1961 Sooty Shearwater Attack on Capitola



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On August 18, 1961 the Santa Cruz California Sentinel reported a startling event: “Residents, especially in the pleasure point and Capitola area, were awakened about 3 am today by the rain of birds slamming against their homes.” The 1961 Sooty Shearwater attack on Capitola, that possibly inspired one of the most famous “natural horror” movies ever made, deserves to be remembered.

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This is original content based on research by The History Guy. Images in the Public Domain are carefully selected and provide illustration. As very few images of the actual event are available in the Public Domain, images of similar objects and events are used for illustration.

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22 thoughts on “1961 Sooty Shearwater Attack on Capitola”

  1. I wonder how many times something like this happened in the distant past, that we don't know about. Surely the problem existed before 1961….

    The Birds made a strong impression on me as a little kid–my parents took us to the drive-in to see it in the late 60s. I think it's a little odd that they thought The Fall of the House of Usher would be too scary for us kids (we were told not to look at the screen while it was playing–but, since their attention was on the screen, I managed to watch it anyway–I love Vincent Price films), but The Birds was just fine. I think that's what started me being a Hitchcock fan.

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  2. My feeling is they came across a school of anchovies or what have you, became confused by the fog & the light pollution of society thinking its the most likely direction of sunrise helping them follow their migration pattern. I'd think the first thing they do following migration patterns is feed any time they can. A toxicity is as much speculation as what I believe. Toxicity is more likely in the modern era as a result of our pollution.

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  3. I grew up in a town that had a fair amount of maw berry trees. Every summer when the maw berries dropped and fermented on the ground the birds would eat them and get drunk and fly right into the side of houses and garages.

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