Foreboding Fleeing Flock - TV Tropes

"'Birds flying away to signal something ominous' cliché."

• Attack on Titan: Following the start of Eren setting off The Rumbling, two children are in the forest until they see hundreds of birds fleeing from the approaching destruction.
• Delicious in Dungeon: A school of Piscine Mermaids leaps through the team's path, fleeing from a kraken that attacks them seconds later.
• Dragon Ball Z:
  • At the beginning of the series, prior to the battle with Vegeta and Nappa, several hordes of animals — including dinosaurs — are shown fleeing the area where the battle will take place.
  • While flying to join the fight against the ancient resurrected evil Majin Buu, Goten and Trunks run into a flock of frightened birds coming from the direction of the battle.
• JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: In Stone Ocean, as the group is making their way towards Cape Canaveral, Jolyne notices some rabbits and squirrels fleeing in the opposite direction, moments before Pucci's C-Moon causes the entire area to undergo a massive gravity shift and endangering everyone.
• Kirby: Right Back at Ya!: One episode had Tiff coming by a group of rats fleeing from the castle upon sensing the asteroid will be approaching the planet soon.
• An extra ominous spin on this in Koudelka, in that after the Big Bad Wannabe finally manages to summon a literal god in the last chapter, asks it to give him the full power of the Artifact of Doom and is told point blank Evil Is Not a Toy only to repeatedly, and flippantly assure said god he knows what he's doing, the god adheres to his request... Only for various flocks of birds to start falling dead out of the sky and the Villain realizes - the 200 people he thought were good enough for a ritual sacrifice are not going to cut it for what a god considers "full power" and promptly has an Oh, Crap! moment.
• In a flashback in the Wano Arc of One Piece, Whitebeard and his crew approaching an island notice schools of fish, sharks, and even sea serpents fearfully swimming away, and once they land, witness the ferocious animals of the island running terrified from the interior. They guess there must be some fearsome monster present, and they're half right, because it's the Roger Pirates.
• In Pokémon 2000, the wild Pokemon start reacting to the impeding disaster that will summon Lugia. Professor Oak mentions that Pokemon are much more in tune with nature than humans. This might be an inversion as the Pokemon were rushing TOWARD the potential scene of disaster and not away from it, in the apparent attempt to prevent/fix the disaster harming their world even though they might lack the power to do anything about it. Curiously though, when the actual major events happen, we don't see any Pokemon other than the major characters become involved. It still plays straight how they were able to apparently predict not only that something was going wrong (although that was becoming more apparent with abberant weather conditions) but also head in the proper direction to do so.
• In Toriko, when the fight between Horse King Heracles and Toriko's Blue Oni gets serious, all of the animals on the entire continent flee in panic.
• In Voltron episode "Footsteps in the Forest of Fear", while Allura, Nanny and the maids were picking berries they notice some birds flew away and decided to head back, but were too late as they were surrounded by Lotor's monster trees. Later, the rest of the Voltron Force spotted birds circling above the forest, knowing it means danger, and ran to save the girls.

• The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck: In Chapter 7, a fleeing horde of kangaroos warns Scrooge of an incoming flood.
• Torchwood (Titan): In "The Culling", the crew of the Ice Maiden notices a flock of birds and other animals fleeing in the Arctic Norwegian Territory. The perpetrator turns out to be Sladen, whose powers and bodily fluids have caused her surroundings to rot.

• Abraxas (Hrodvitnon): A school of normal-sized fish swim rapidly past Godzilla and Monster X in the ocean without caring about the risk of either predator catching them in Chapter 13; a sure sign of a greater danger (the Many) being nearby.
• Boldores And Boomsticks: A scared flock of Pidgey lets Gary Oak, Riley, and Tracey Follow the Chaos to find Team RWBY.
• A Different Weasel Makes A Difference : Every single animal North of the Wall (from birds and rabbits to direwolves, bears, and mammoths) flees South shortly before the Others' attack on the Wall. One shadowcat actually climbs the wall. Done again later in the story after the Others have breached the Wall, and the animals need to flee further and further South.

• Flocks of crows sound the alarm in Bambi whenever Man approaches.
• Beauty and the Beast (1991): Played for laughs when the birds eating from Beast's hands fly away from him right before Belle hits him with a snowball.
• In Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, a flock of ratbirds and Flint's pet monkey Steve are seen fleeing just before the big food storm.
• Invoked in The Lion King (1994) when Scar has the hyenas cause a wildebeest stampede as a trap for both Simba and Mufasa. Also, a few seconds before the stampede appears, a flock of birds can be seen taking off.
• Dinosaur
  • In the opening prologue, a young Parasaurolophus chases a flying lizard into a thicket when he realizes he's not alone in there. He bolts out, drawing the attention of all the other dinosaurs right before a hungry Carnotaurus comes charging out.
  • As Aladar and the lemurs watch a mesmerizing meteor shower in the sunset, Pilo notices a flock of birds frantically flying away from their island. She and her father Yar both have an ominous gut feeling, and sure enough, a much, much bigger meteor falls from the sky a few moments later.
• In Ferngully The Last Rainforest, Crysta flies over the canopy for the first time and sees a plume of smoke over the horizon. She is then overcome by a flock of birds fleeing the source of the smoke — a human logging team.
• Finding Nemo: Dory and Marlin are arguing that it's just as good the whale they were trying to talk to swam away, since he might have been hungry. Dory counters that whales only eat krill. Cue a cloud of krill swimming past them with a whale's open maw right behind them.
• Flow (2024): After hiding from a pack of dogs that were chasing him, the cat sees a flock of birds flying overhead, followed by the same dogs running the other way and not giving chase, and then a herd of elk thundering past. Moments later, the cat gets swept up in a deluge that submerges the forest.
• In Home (2015), Oh and Tip discover that the Boov are flying alongside them, but are not attacking them. Turns out they were fleeing a Gorg drone.
• While on a field trip in Once Upon a Forest, Cornelius and his young students regard a large flight of birds of assorted species all flying away from Dapplewood, screeching in alarm. This signals to the party that some disaster has befallen Dapplewood, and the young ones need to return home at once to assess the damage.
• Pinocchio (1940): Pinocchio and Jiminy look for Monstro the whale under water, and every time they ask the sea creatures, they swim away in terror. Later, they run into a fleeing school of tuna, with a hungry Monstro close behind.
• In The Red Turtle, the characters notice that something is wrong when the birds in the sky start to flock and fly off. Soon after the tsunami wave hits the shore of the island.
• In Scooby-Doo! and the Monster of Mexico, a pack of wolves runs towards the gang — then past them, away from the chupacabra.
• When farmer Fitzgibbons starts up his tractor in Don Bluth's The Secret of NIMH, Auntie Shrew sounds the alarm: "Run for your lives! It's Moving Day!" All the critters in the east field bug out, as the farmer's plow tends to obliterate anything in its path.
• In Turning Red, the temple cats flee when Mei's aunties approach.

• Aquaman (2018): While driving down a coastal road with his father, Arthur Curry sees a flock of seabirds flying overhead, then looks out to sea to find a Giant Wall of Watery Doom bearing down on them.
• The protagonists from Cloverfield encounter a swarm of fleeing rats in the train tunnels before they encounter the Proportionately Ponderous Parasites.
• Dark Was the Night: A sign of the monsters coming is how every animal in the area, from the deer herds to the flocks of birds to the priest's dog, has vanished (whether they sensed the creature and ran or have been killed is unclear).
• The Day After Tomorrow: When Sam, Brian', and Laura arrive in New York, they're puzzled to find countless flocks of squawking birds flying south. Dissolve to another scene at the zoo where all of the animals are raising ruckus, much to the zookeepers' confusion.
• At the beginning of Dennis the Menace, after Mr. Wilson grabs his morning paper, he can hear the sounds of a bicycle bell dinging and empty cans tumbling behind, which is followed by a squirrel scurrying up a tree, flocks of birds shooting out of shrubs, and cats crashing into each other as they flee... all of which can mean one thing: Dennis is heading this way.
• Don't Look Up: Scenes of fleeing deer, a bear raiding a supermarket, and otters acting strangely are shown before the comet hits Earth.
• In the film adaptation of Dreamcatcher, Our Intrepid Heroes see a mass migration of all sorts of wildlife from their hunting cabin in the middle of the forest. One guy asks where they're all going, and one of his friends asks, "Better question... what are they all running from?"
• Earthquake: A seismologist is setting some sensors inside a fault located in a farmer's field. The farm animals all go running just before a tremor causes the fissure to cave in on the hapless scientist.
• Godzilla (2014): In the Golden Gate Bridge scene, a massive flock of panicking seagulls fly past the Golden Gate Bridge, signalling that Godzilla is approaching.
• The Impossible: One of the last signs right before the tsunami hitting the resort is a flock of birds seen overhead fleeing from the direction of the coast, and a lizard in a bush darting away (the movie is based on the 2004 Indonesian tsunami, and such behaviour was widely reported in real life).
• Jurassic Park:
  • In Jurassic Park (1993), Dr. Grant pauses to appreciate how a group of gallimimus move "just like a flock of birds evading a predator". He doesn't know how right he is. Also a rare case where the flock themselves are a threat, as our heroes need to get out of their way to avoid being trampled.

    Tim: They're, uh... they're 'flocking' this way.

  • Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom: Dinosaurs run out of the forest after Mount Sibo, Isla Nublar's long-dormant volcano, erupts.
• In one scene of the extended cut of King Kong (2005), the main characters are attacked by a swarm of giant aquatic centipedes as they're rafting down the river. The centipedes all abruptly retreat however, leaving the crew bewildered in uncomfortable silence for a moment, before the boats are rammed by a gigantic predatory fish.
• The Legend of Boggy Creek: Hunters who encounter the creature sometimes comment on noticing how the words were silent, and every smaller animal seemed to have run away right before the sighting.
• The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring:
  • When the hobbits are hiding from the Nazgul behind a log, they notice all manner of bugs scurrying away from it.
  • In the Mines of Moria, the massive horde of goblins that was ready to rip the Fellowship to shreds moments ago suddenly become this when they sense the approaching Balrog.
• In Melancholia, as the planet Melancholia is on death course towards Earth, insects, worms and other insects start to surface the ground, signing the disturbances that happen in nature due to the gravitational pull of the approaching planet.
• In The NeverEnding Story III: Escape from Fantasia, the Nasties' introduction is heralded by almost the entire student body running past Bastian.
• Sleepy Hollow (1999): Jonathan Masbeth's murder is preceded by lots of sheep and deer running out of the woods in terror, alerting Masbeth to ready his gun and prepare to open fire at the Headless Horseman from his lookout post. The warning does him no good.
• Star Wars:
  • The Phantom Menace: The Trade Federation's invasion panics the animals of Naboo, who all race to get away, heedless of the Jedi trying to keep from getting trampled, or a certain noteworthy Gungan who just stands there like an idiot.
  • Revenge of the Sith: A rare non-animal example. There is a shot of the Separatist Council in the Mustafar control room, and suddenly a pack of mouse droids wheel very quickly into the room with Darth Vader right behind them. He of course is there to slaughter everyone present. A mouse droid was previously (later?) shown to be scared of Chewbacca, so presumably these ones were terrified of Anakin.
  • A variation occurs in Rogue One when an Imperial Star Destroyer and many smaller Empire ships over the city of Jedha suddenly leave... but only because the Death Star is coming in to obliterate the city.
  • The Last Jedi: A large pack of vulptex flee into the Resistance base, heralding the imminent First Order attack. Later inverted, the vulptex vanishing during the Resistance's Darkest Hour isn't ominous, but a sign of hope. After all, they didn't leave through the besieged front door, so there's obviously another way out.
• In Supervolcano, the protagonists finally attain confirmation that an eruption of the Yellowstone supervolcano is imminent. One of the scientists tries to play it down, in the hope that it won't be a major eruption. They're shaken by a massive rumbling, and discover a massive herd of bison evacuating the park. Only then does the cast realize how big the impending eruption will be. Later, as the magma finally begins shooting to the surface to start the eruption, a flock of birds quickly vacate the immediate area just before the first plume of the eruption goes off.
• In Titanic (1997), as the ship begins sinking, the rats that infest the lower holds begin swarming and fleeing upward. Some lost and confused third-class passengers decide to follow them. "If this is the direction the rats are going, that's good enough for me!"
• Inverted in War of the Worlds (2005). As everyone is trying to get on the ferries to escape the invaders, a flock of birds is seen flying away from the open water toward the land. But it turns out they're flying toward the Tripods, which appear from over a hill. It's only much later that we find out why: the Tripods have fleshy biological components inside their metal chassis, and the birds apparently want some of that juicy meat.
• Every bird on the mountains in The Wave flee late at night, giving Kristian the indicator that the mountain is coming loose and a Giant Wall of Watery Doom is heading their way.

• Sun Tzu, in The Art of War counsels being alert for this as it may indicate enemy movement.
• In Dreamcatcher, this is among the first signs the protagonists see that something is very wrong in the woods they've gone on a hunting trip to.
• In Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Harry and Ron find a swarm of spiders leaving Hogwarts by an open window and heading for the forest. They later find out that the castle is home to a monster that spiders consider their mortal enemy: the basilisk.
• Hollow Kingdom (2019): One chapter shows birds, insects, and ground mammals all fleeing away from a nuclear power plant after sensing it will soon go into meltdown.
• Knight's & Magic features this, with Ernesti's moment to shine coming when a huge herd of Demons flees through his school's patrol trip fleeing a massive Division-class^note  Behemoth.
• In the book Methuselahs Gift, the story begins with the animals of the forest — including the family of racoons it centers around — running in unison from the fire.
• In one book of the New Jedi Order, Anakin Solo is fleeing a group of Yuuzhan Vong through the jungles of Yavin IV. His Force senses can't detect the Vong directly, but they can pick out where animals are fleeing or raising hell because of the strange creatures in their midst.
• In the first chapter of Nomads of Gor, Tarl sees people and animals fleeing in anticipation of the coming of the Wagon Peoples [sic], four fierce nomadic tribes who come together once every few years to discuss the possibility of making war on the city dwellers. Even a larl (a tigerlike animal the size of a small elephant) is seen trotting away.
• The Zombie Survival Guide mentions that all animal life on earth instinctively fears and runs away from zombies, so a conspicuous absence of animals or animal noise might be your first clue that the undead are nearby.

• 9-1-1: Lone Star: One woman’s food truck is invaded by a swarm of scorpions and, thanks to a 911 dispatcher, is able to escape and learn that a magma flow is coming.
• Stranger Things: Inverted in that the creatures are running towards something. When a large number of demodogs run past the heroes without attacking, this is because their master the Mind Flayer is sending them after El.
• The Walking Dead (2010): In the Season 10 episode “Morning Star”, the survivors sense Alpha and the Whisperer horde are on their way and prepare for battle. Towards dusk, a massive swarm of rats begins fleeing from the woods outside Hilltop’s walls, alerting the survivors that the massive horde of walkers is approaching.

• Dungeons & Dragons: 1st Edition Deities & Demigods Cyclopedia, Cthulhu Mythos chapter. All natural creatures are sensitive to the presence of Cthulhu Mythos monsters. If they detect any such creatures they will give a warning call and flee at maximum speed. Clever Player Characters can use this to their advantage.
• In Warhammer 40,000, some of the fluff implies that the Tyranids aren't invading the galaxy as much as being a much more aggressive example of this, possibly fleeing from something back wherever they came from. It's also noted that if Tyranid horde heading your way suddenly turns around and gets the hell out of your system, it's not a sign to cheer. It's a sign to pack your stuff and get out of there as well, as the only enemy Tyranids run from are the Necrons, and a hive fleet suddenly fleeing is a good sign that your planet is home to a Tomb World. A Tomb World which may have just awakened in response to Tyranid fleet entering your system.

• BIONICLE: When the Morbuzakh occupied the Great Furnace, it forced out the Furnace Salamanders. The event did not seem significant to Matoran though.

• Chaos Heat have the encounter with a Brain Monster boss, one of the freakier-looking and dangerous enemies, as you step into a lab where the ground is crawling with the smallest, low-level mutant critters, and with a massive pool on the other side. Suddenly, the critters all flees from the area, just as the pool's waters starts bubbling, before the boss reveals itself.
• At the start of Death Stranding, birds and other animals are fleeing an oncoming storm of "Timefall", a strange rain that induces Rapid Aging in anything it touches. The protagonist is riding his motorbike in the same direction they're fleeing, and on seeing animals jump a precipice knows to drive to that area to do the same.
• The fifth level of the original Metal Slug is set in a quiet Italian village. At one point, a pack of stray dogs runs on the street, signaling the arrival of that level's boss. This idea is never used again in the series.
• In F.E.A.R. and its sequel, rats can sometimes be seen running en mass down some streets when you're headed towards something unpleasant.
• The Forest stage in Guardian Heroes ends like this, with a large pack of wolves running away right before the Boss jumps in.
• In The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky - Second Chapter, Estelle and the others are asked to deal with dangerous monsters that have suddenly fled into nearby areas. Upon fighting them, they noticed the monsters were acting terrified of something before discovering they were really fleeing from the awakened dragon.
• The Monster Hunter series likes to use this from time to time, with an increase of dangerous monsters caused by them fleeing from or being pushed out of their territory by a rampaging Elder Dragon or otherwise aberrant monster.
• In S.T.A.L.K.E.R., this is seen in the introductory cutscene in Clear Sky as an early sign of the incoming blowout. Another example featuring a flock of rats also appears in one of the dream cutscenes in Shadow of Chernobyl.
• The trailer for Subnautica shows schools of fish seemingly fleeing the puzzled player character... as a colossal, monstrous-looking creature approaches from behind. The creature is the Sea Emperor Leviathan, Friend to All Living Things. Never Trust a Trailer!
• At two points on the first level of Sunset Riders, a flock of chickens will suddenly race onto the screen, clucking in alarm. They're followed seconds later by a herd of stampeding bulls.
• World of Warcraft: In Duskwood, after helping Abercrombie with his project, he asks you to bring a note to the mayor of Darkshire, after which someone runs in with news that wolves are running out of the woods, as though fleeing something, the abomination you unwittingly helped create.

• Helluva Boss: In "Mission: Antarctica", Millie notices pre-existing injuries on the slain leopard seal that was charging at I.M.P. and realizes it was actually fleeing from something worse.
• RWBY: In Volume 8, three Sabyrs charge Yang's team, only to abruptly stop when they hear the Hound's growl and flee in the opposite direction. The heroes are alarmed by the unnatural behaviour because they've never seen Grimm run away from anything before. However, the Hound ambushes them before they can think about it any further.

• Chapter 47 of Drowtales features a fleeing flock of demons. Normally, the release of so many nether beings at once would be an unmitigated disaster, but these demons don't even try to feed on Chel'el'sussoloth's drow. It's deeply unsettling, and with good reason — because it turns out they're fleeing from a demon god.
• Unsounded: Right as the self destruct spell is activated, but before it goes off and blows Inaktown's walls up a bunch of beetles flee the cavern.

• In the parody Star Wars Downunder, fleeing fruit bats herald the attack by Darth Drongo and his Sith Troopers on the Brown Mullet pub.

• Avatar:
  • Avatar: The Last Airbender: In "The Cave of Two Lovers", while lost in the tunnels, Sokka and the nomads are startled by a huge flock of wolf-bats flying at them. Sokka realizes that the bats weren't attacking them, but fleeing from something else, and soon after the badgermoles burst from the tunnel walls and attack.
  • The Legend of Korra: This is done with spirits instead of animals. A bunch of spirits are fleeing from the collateral damage of a fight between Raava and Vaatu. Later, the spirits are once again fleeing, although this time they're evacuating from Republic City because of Kuvira's impending assault.
• Gravity Falls:
  • "Dipper vs. Manliness": The Manotaurs are introduced when a bunch of forest animals — and Manly Dan the lumberjack — are seen running from Chutzpar, one of their members.
  • "Weirdmageddon Part 1": When Weirdmageddon starts, the flock of fleeing forest denizens now includes Chutzpar himself. And some gnomes.

    Gnome 1: Move it, stretch!
    Gnome 2: Hey, we're scampering here!

• Looney Tunes:
  • In "Super-Rabbit", after acquiring superpowers similar to Superman's, Bugs Bunny flies to Texas to check out a man who hates rabbits and plans to kill all of them. When he arrives in Texas, he finds a multitude of rabbits all running in the same direction. One of them tells Bugs "Run for your life! It's Cottontail Smith and he's gone plumb loco!" A few seconds later, Smith appears holding a rifle.
  • Episodes involving the Tasmanian Devil usually begin with all sorts of animals fleeing from his ravenous rampage.
• The Powerpuff Girls (1998): In "Three Girls and a Monster", the girls fly into town to fight a particularly large monster. On their way they fly into a huge swarm of birds escaping the monster's destruction.
• Samurai Jack: In "Jack and The Dragon", Jack discovers a desolate forest before all the animals within it suddenly flee in terror before facing the terrible smell that had them running.
• She-Ra and the Princesses of Power: In "Light Hope", after the Horde starts experimenting with the Black Garnet, the various animals in the Whispering Woods (including one of the robotic spiders) begin fleeing in terror. Swift Wind is also able to sense something bad happening, and it's only his connection to Adora that keeps him from fleeing.
• The Simpsons:
  • "Homer Defined": When Mr. Burns is downplaying the nuclear meltdown to the news channels, as he says "there is absolutely no danger whatsoever", a swarm of rats are shown fleeing from the power plant. When Homer manages to halt the meltdown, the rats are now shown returning to the power plant now that the crisis is averted.
  • "Hurricane Neddy": Parodied when Homer ignores the threat of a hurricane until he sees an animal fleeing too late:

    [Santa's Little Helper struggles to move forward against the wind]
    Homer: What is it, boy? Fire? Earthquake? Hippies?
    [the wind overpowers SLH and blows him backwards into the air]
    Homer: (gasp) Hurricane! Somehow, the animals are always the first to know.

• Tiny Toon Adventures: At the beginning of "Hare Today, Gone Tomorrow", Babs (as Tinkerbunny) is introducing the show when she gets run over by a swarm of animals, who are running from Elmyra Duff. A minute or so later, the animals run past Buster's burrow. Babs is now part of the swarm and warns Buster that Elmyra is coming.
• Total Drama All-Stars: When Chef goes to pick up "Mike" from Boney Island, he gets trampled by the hostile native wildlife as they flee from Mal. Mal then stomps on Chef's fingers and greets him sinisterly.
• Watership Down (2018): As the rabbits stare across the fields around Watership Down, they see a flock of birds take flight signifying the approach of General Woundwort's Owsla.
• Young Samson and Goliath: In "Cold Wind From Venus", as Samson and Goliath ride their motorbike they notice flocks of birds and herds of deer fleeing in the other direction. This is due to two robots from Venus imposing "environmental control" over the area — i.e. reducing the air temperature to below zero.