Southern Israel is the site of this spectacular starling murmuration (a new word for me). I’ve seen scientific explanations of how birds can fly this way without crashing into each other, but even if I could repeat it, it would spoil the moment — as does the narration in every video I could find. I’ve seen starlings do this in Oklahoma, but never in numbers as great as this.
(Note, 6/8/2022 — The video I originally posted disappeared, as YouTube videos are wont to do, so I’ve inserted another one)
Starlings and swifts do stop overs in Sonoma County (where I live) every year and they are mesmerizing to watch. There are no words to describe it. This is a cool video of ’em, though. I always try, but it is so hard to follow their movements and keep everything in focus!
Mesmerizing! Yes, that was the word I was looking for. I wish this video were ten times longer …
Beautiful, PT. The natural world never ceases to amaze and delight me.
Me too, Kate. Me too.
Looking at this video, and all the still images on Google, I have to wonder if murmurations were the inspiration for some of the alien life forms we see in scifi movies …
That is just so cool!
I’ve watched it dozens of times, usually with the sound off. That little part at the end, with the “humps” along the ground, reminds me of a giant sand worm or something similar.