finally, an explanation.

on saturday, aka september 11th....gulp. we were up on my roof checkin' out the ol' towers of light, when we noticed that something was happening in the beams. they appeared to have been glitter bombed. both light shafts from the ground up to where they terminated into the low clouds were full of little specks moving in the light. from our vantage point in brooklyn, it was hard to gauge the scale of the objects, and they did look sparkly, so we just assumed they had shot some confetti off or something, during the 9/11 party tribute down at ground zero.

anyway, i've been scouring the internet ever since looking for an explanation, and gawker just gave it to me:

They were thousands of birds, trapped into the beams, confused by the intense light while trying to go over New York City, en route to warmer climates. The birds saw the intense light from the distance and, lacking any other navigational reference in the sky, they went into it.

According to John Rowden, citizen science director at the Audubon Society's New York chapter, "it has only happened once before. It's a confluence of circumstances that come together to cause this. Some of it has to do with meteorological conditions, and some with the phase of the moon."

About 10,000 birds were estimated to enter the beams, wasting time and energy that now can't be used in their migratory trip. From the ground, people were surprised and confused by the display. Nobody could tell what the swarm of glowing points were. Ornithology experts recorded the bird voices, as they called in the middle of the night.

To liberate the birds, the NYC authorities had to turn off the beams five times over the night. By dawn, on September 12, all the birds were gone, on their way to their winter promised land. (via)

it was BIRDS!! ten THOUSand of them!