Heracles & The Stymphalian Birds: The 12 Labours Of Heracles EP.6 | Greek Mythology

The sixth labor of Heracles was to defeat the Stymphalian birds, a flight of huge flesh-eating birds that had the beaks of bronze, feathers of metal, and a poisonous tongue. Sacred to the god of war, Ares, they lived in the lake of a swampy area in Stymphalos, from where they flew to nearby towns, preying on the townspeople and livestock. Now when Heracles got to the lake, he did not know how to go about the task. He could not go too deep into the lake, else he would drown, so how could he lure the birds out of the swamp? Athena once again came to his aid, by giving him some annoyingly noisy rattles, crafted by Hephaestus, god of the forge. Heracles used the rattles to startle the giant birds, then shot many of them dead with his poisonous arrows when they came out. The few remaining birds flew to a faraway land, where they would be later encountered by the Argonauts. That was it for the sixth labor of Heracles.