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.)
Beyond great!!! What an experience.
So cool!
Wow! 🙂
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