birds apearing on the map when playing swain.

has this always been a thing or is it something that only happens with swain? because i swear i never noticed it before. i was watching some swain gameplay and i noticed flocks of black birds would randomly appear around him and sit on the terrain watching.

i usually play with critters and eye candy off so its possible i just never noticed till now, but if this is exclusive to swains thematic that is really cool.