Great Starling Video

Murmuration from Islands & Rivers on Vimeo.

This video is sweeping the Internet.  If you haven’t seen it yet you’ll love watching this huge starling flock, called a murmuration, swirling above two girls canoeing in Ireland.

Starlings flock in large numbers in the winter when they’re getting ready to roost.  If the flock sees a predator, each bird pulls in closer to his neighbor until the mass of birds looks like a solid swirling ball.

This flock must feel threatened — they’re flying that close!

And I wonder  … where’s the peregrine?

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(video by Liberty Smith and Sophie Windsor Clive on Vimeo.  Read about their encounter in this article at the Huffington Post.)

4 thoughts on “Great Starling Video

  1. There was one similar to this from Sweden or somewhere else a couple of years ago.

    OK, I typed that and then I went and looked on youtube. . . (it was actually Denmark).

    First I found this on youtube:

    Spectacular Starling Flock – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8vhE8ScWe7w
    This shows a murmuration and a single falcon (I think I saw it) over Gretna Scotland.
    4:37 (4½ min.)

    And there I found the Denmark video too (it’s even better than the Ireland one).

    300,000 Birds Swarm Over Denmark –
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V71hz9wNsgs
    1:00 (1 min.)

    There are many, many more including one from Sacramento:

    Half Million Birds Swarm Over Sacramento
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jr64WSzkTo
    2:01 (2 min.)

    Rob

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