Ruffled pigeons mistaken for blast in house

ERIE, Pa. (AP) -- What an Erie beautician thought was an explosion in the attic of the house where he works turned out to be a rush of panicky pigeons.
Duane Tate called 911 to report an explosion in the house where Sassy's Beauty Salon is located at 10:55 a.m. Monday when he saw and heard the glass blown out of the attic windows.
But emergency crews arrived to find nothing but pigeon droppings and feathers.
It turns out a hawk flew into the attic and attacked a flock of pigeons that had been roosting there -- and the pigeons flew through the windows in a frantic effort to get away.
Tate estimated that hundreds of pigeons roosted in the attic after flying through an open rear window -- but speculated that the birds didn't have brains enough to fly out the open window when the predator swooped in.
The brown-speckled Cooper's hawk roosted in a nearby tree as firefighters inspected the damage, Tate said.
The hawks are "pretty common in the city," said Wendy Campbell, a local wildlife rehabilitator. "I've got one who hunts in my back yard."