Yesterday, while walking out to the parking lot, after work, I saw this:
I had never seen anything like this before – thousands of birds, flying in certain formations.
It turns out this type of flight pattern is referred to as a Starling Murmuration.
How do they not run into each other?
It turns out that starlings can fly in these massive groups, especially during the winter months (they gather members from migrating flocks) – they basically watch what the birds next to them are doing and follow suit, kind of like dancers in a chorus line. But scientists suspect there is a much more complex process going on during these formations and flight patterns. It seems each starling is connected somehow with every other starliing in the flock, so they move as one.
Whatever the science behind it is – it is a fascinating , and a very rare occurence to witness.
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Categories: California, Central Valley
It’s stunning to watch but you definitely don’t want to be standing underneath them! 😉
No I wouldn’t think so, talk about a “sh*t storm”!!!
Exactly! 🤣🤣🤣
It’s beautiful indeed. I had heard of this being big in winter in Rome. Lucky you!
Honestly, I had not even heard of this until having Googled it, and realizing that indeed I was lucky. Of course, having watched many an apocalyptic film, I figured they were signaling an earthquake, impending doom, etc. But we are all still here!!! Yay!!!
Wow that’s so great. Thank you for sharing it with us. As you said it is mystery how they behave like this. Hope science can provide an explanation soon.
You are welcome, sorry the video wasn’t the best!!!
I love this, SD. Thanks for sharing.
Just covered in goosebumps! LOVED the music you put to this ballet. Amazing video!!!
Ooo, thank-you!! It was my first try at using the I-movie editing app!
👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼
Those Starlings are gorgeous in their murmuration, SD! They almost look like a dust storm. Wow. Thanks for sharing this with us.
Cool video! We saw a group of birds that size yesterday, but they weren’t doing that. I’ve never heard of that, super interesting.
I am sure it was a sign of something – I don’t know of what, but it was pretty breathtaking to witness!!!
I viewed this last week and I was amazed by what I saw. How cool you were in the right place at the right time. Awesome video!! Thank you! 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼
Thank you. I feel really honored to have been in the right place at the right time to catch such a beautiful event!!!
That is exactly how I feel whenever that phenomenon happens to me … being in the right place at the right time. I am very humbled knowing Mother Nature “chose” me to see something. 💝
Yes! And the crazy thing is, there were all these people coming out of work right behind us, all looking at their cell phones, and not one of them looked up to see what was unfolding in the skies, right above them!!!
Does’t that drive you nuts? I see that in the parks I frequent, attention on cellphones. People don’t even SEE what is right in front of their noses. They have NO clue what is presently in the NOW moment. What a shame! They have no idea what they are missing out on!
If only we humans could harmonize like this!
It was a real honor to be there to observe this fantastic display of nature!