Hi Glen,
According to animal expert Diana Guerrero (and other animal people)some birds indeed can sense oncoming quakes as well as the P-wave (the primary seismic wave). Caged birds will often hang on their cage; sometimes they will flap frantically, or they can be abnormally quite. Breeding birds will often abandon their eggs or discard them from the nest; wild birds become quiet or aren't visible.
Callie
P.S. In the film "The Day After Tomorrow," there is a wonderful scene of a huge flock of birds flying away before disaster hits. True, it's just a movie but I believe our feathered friends could certainly react like that before a gigantic natural disaster strikes.