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Have you ever seen 300,000 birds move at once? Buzzfeed posted this video of a massive flock of starlings swarming together over an unspecified area in Denmark, forming a dark, shape-shifting cloud. For all the Harry Potter fans out there, it bears a frightening resemblance to a Dementor.

WATCH:

Comments

[digdeeper]

I just love these birds and am provileged to see them in their masses fairly often.
They chatter away in the Spring and Summer and then in the winter their song changes to a different sound and always heralds the coming of winter.
They are just great.

[tabatha]

Totally agree!

[Watain]

They just came from America escaping political climate change and taxes.

[Flokk]

Too bad they didn't carry any wingnuts with them. :(

[VonTeshyn]

Wow, an avian lava lamp.

[Budokan]

I counted 300,001. But I won't quibble.

[Pem3]

Looked like the small monsters in the movie Pitch Black, just not as deadly unless you are a bug.

[Pem3]

That was cool a big blob of birds that could not decide where they wanted to go or if they wanted to land.

[iRock]

i bet christians are calling this a sign from god

[future primitive]

They made the shape of the Madonna and Child and then they did the Shroud of Turin twice! Didn't you see? To be fair, you had to be standing directly under it to observe it.

[Budokan]

They call burned toast a sign from god. So, yeah.

[timetomoveon]

Was it just me or did anyone else see the face of the Virgin Mary? Or maybe that was Cher.........

[3blueeggs]

Just watched a program on the three Fatima messages. One of the flight formations reminded me of a herald or an angel. I'm not into heavenly signs, but it made me think...

[BlackYowe]

Starlings are like a curse. They move like that around here allot in the fall. They crap on my car all the time.

[HotheadPaisen]

I'm sure they're just calibrating their aim... Try to go more slowly from the house to the car.

[tabatha]

Be glad you have them!

Starlings consume huge quantities of insects that would otherwise be a problem.

[blueskybigstar]

The most startling thing about starlings was that there were just a few released in America and now number in the billions. I have seen the same sight in California. They can also be taught to repeat things like a parrot or myna bird. They are related to myna birds.

[ChumpChicken]

Bait Ball.....just like schooling fish

[screamingbanshee]

except there is not predator snacking on the edges....
how do they not run into each other? how do they know where to go and which bird to follow?

[JohnSawyer]

And the clean definition around the edges of the flock is impressive--very few stragglers, if any, outside the bounds of the flock even as it shifts around.

[Tulka2]

Big autumn flock of starlings battling a strong headwind. This is a common sight over big flat spaces like Denmark.... and Iowa. I am not dismissing the sight. It stopped me cold as a child too. Wonderful. Wonderful. Past all wonder. You ought to see bees swarm. That sight will make a superstitious person fall to their knees in wonder too.

[JohnSawyer]

And it will make a scientific person gape in awe too. :)

[Pem3]

I have seen a swarm of bees do that it looked like a living mass of smoke swirling above a old house where they had found a huge hive.

[digdeeper]

and you hear them coming long before they fly over you too.
It takes a moment for you to clock in as to what it is coming because the noise becomes so loud. Great sight but a bit scary too.

[petzl]

You fools! Thats neither a starling flock nor a dementor, its the smoke monster from "Lost."
Thus: RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!

[HotheadPaisen]

funny!

[Tyler-Durden]

that was pretty cool. i've seen something similar in my back yard.

i drove up in the driveway, got out of the car, and saw my entire yard was covered with black birds. when i slammed the door, they all took off at once.

it almost sounded like a tornado, this loud whoosh as they all flapped at the same time. it was startling at first.

they all went up to the trees for a minute, then they all took off and made a cloud like that as they flew away.

i took a picture, but it doesn't compare to a video. cool stuff!