Murmuration - The Dance of the Starlings
Here’s another mystery of nature:
No one knows why they do it, yet each fall,
thousands of starlings dance in the twilight above England Scotland Russia Scandinavia to escape winter’s frigid bite .
Scientists aren’t sure how they
do it either. The starlings' murmurations are manifestations of swarm
intelligence, which in different contexts is practiced by
schools of fish , swarms of bees, and colonies of ants. As far as I am aware, even complex algorithmic
models haven’t yet explained the starlings’ aerobatics, which rely on the tiny birds' quicksilver reaction
time of under 100 milliseconds, to avoid aerial collisions — and predators — in the giant flock.
Despite their tour de force in the dusky sky,
starlings have declined significantly in the UK Britain
Two young ladies were out for a late afternoon
canoe ride and fortunately one of them remembered to bring her video camera. What they saw
was a wonderful murmuration display, caught in the short video - URL is below. Watch the variation of
color and intensity of the patterns that the birds make in proximity to one other,
and take a look at the girl in the stern of the canoe watching the aerial display.
Enjoy!
Til next Time,
Meggi
A chance encounter and shared moment with one of natures
greatest and most fleeting phenomena.
Looking for some fun photography opportunity to capture tiny birds, check this out:
- Fast Action Photography at its best: Hummingbirds in the Santa Cruz Mountains - come and photograph these tiny colorful birds.
