Murmuration: Chance Encounter Captures Stunning Phenomenon Of Starlings (VIDEO/PHOTOS)

This is one of the most spectacular animal phenomena known to man.

A murmuration, or flock of starlings, here includes thousands of these tiny birds collectively flying and swirling about. The mesmerizing act is typically seen at the beginning of winter, right before dusk, as the birds look for a place to roost for the night.

During the action, birds reach speeds of up to 20 mph.

In the video below, Vimeo user Sophie Windsor Clive captured an incredible example of the event on the River Shannon in Ireland. Clive and her companion, Liberty Smith, just seem to happen on the event as they were canoeing across. It was an amazing treat neither of them ever expected to see.

According to the Telegraph, what makes it so beautiful is actually a survival function:

“Numbers build up slowly near the roost over the afternoon as small groups of birds return from foraging in the area,” explains Paul Stancliffe of the British Trust for Ornithology. “By late afternoon there is a huge swirling cloud. It’s all about safety in numbers – none wants to be on the outside, none wants to be first to land.”

Essentially it's an epic battle to determine who in the flock survives, and who's a target for predators. According to the Telegraph, each bird tries to copy the bird next to it exactly, which results in a stunning rippling effect.

Be sure to check out the video below to see the spectacular sight for yourself, and scroll down to take a look at photos of the stunning event:

WATCH:

Murmuration from Sophie Windsor Clive on Vimeo.

Check out these images of a murmuration of starlings at Gretna in Scottish borders, taken on November 1, 2011:

Clarification: Language has been added to indicate that a murmuration is any flock of starlings, and not specifically one that exhibits this particular behavior.

Comments

[dvncmdy]

10:00 AM on 12/20/2011

I could feel their exuberance.......that was pretty spectacular

[luziannagirl]

08:50 AM on 12/20/2011

Swallows do this every late fall / winter in the sugar cane fields along the Mississippi River between Baton Rouge and New Orleans. It's totally spectacular. Louisiana birders call them "swallow tornadoes". They can even be visible on radar .

[MariaMaria]

07:42 AM on 12/20/2011

Wish I had been there to experience that, so appreciative of those who capture and share these moments. Some day, someday I want life to be this awesome for us all in ways that are ever changing and more beautiful and pure.

[jonesklm]

03:49 AM on 12/20/2011

Pretty interesting. I used to live in Klamath Faslls, Oregon and we would see thousands of these same phenomena during the summer, except they were insects of various kinds...especially midges. They are infamous in the area as they have killed a number of tourists when they run into them at a high rate of speed with their windshields and they clog the windshield wipers and cause head-on accidents. One can view them on the side of the road in huge clouds that look like tornados going up as high as a hundred feet at times. That is one place with a TON of insects! They would come inside no matter what you did...through the screens under the doors...it was a spider's paradise.

[deborah kitzul]

02:07 AM on 12/20/2011

this is really cool, I have never seen anything quite like this before.

[writer014961]

02:05 AM on 12/20/2011

I have noticed small flocks of birds around the neighborhood where I live dancing in harmony against the blue sky. I am fascinated with the way they disappear when they fly sideways then reappear when they fly flat against the sky. I always thought it was some type of winged community bonding ritual. Of course, the flocks I have noticed are much smaller than the one in the video, but just as beautiful and awe inspiring. I am sure in the bird community, there are reasons for such behavior, but fear doesn't seem likely.

[reemont]

10:37 PM on 12/19/2011

Oh! How wonderful! I saw this once up north, and being from the south, I just thought it was a "normal" thing. Although, most people find Starlings annoying, they are one of my favorite birds.(They have character!) So beautiful, that this was caught on film. And even more beautiful, those recording chose to share this moment with us. Thank you.

[jonesklm]

03:53 AM on 12/20/2011

Their problem is that they are non-native birds in North America and they encroach on other species and take their feeding grounds from them due to their aggressive nature. As part of the Black Bird clan, they are funny little birds to humans, though. Their sounds in the trees as the sun goes down are pretty amazing...like a lot of different black birds and mockingbirds.

[jerseyj08]

10:23 PM on 12/19/2011

Nature must have given them a built in natural radar signal. It is amazing and beautiful as is all of Nature.

[ejljr]

10:53 PM on 12/19/2011

Yeah! And a lot of bird everywhere too!

[JoMana]

02:30 AM on 11/19/2011

I don't know... something is still left to the imagination in that scientific explanation. If every bird were so gripped by the fear of being on the outside, they'd simply all implode, wouldn't they? If you watch the movement, clearly there are leaders and there are followers, and suddenly, the followers become the leaders. There's a certain poetry in motion. You don't see a single bird falling out of the sky, no "mistakes", no carnage. Isn't that astounding? Hmmm, kind of like the human race... it takes risk and courage to know when to lead and when to let go, but when we buy into fear and mindlessly follow the leader, we implode, we ignore our instincts, we crash into each other - wars, greed, hate, separation. We have a lot to learn from these "lower life forms".

[jonesklm]

03:56 AM on 12/20/2011

Sort of like a "wing man" for a pilot in WAR! Yeah, we learned from these here birds, alright! We learned how to fly from watching them and studying them and then we learned how they fly together and then we learned how to kill each other by flying like the birds. People have a way of messing up the lessons taught by nature, no matter where they are and what they are doing.

[west14123]

04:54 AM on 11/17/2011

Hey it was Nov. last year I was working on the roof of my old warehouse in Benicia and noticed a 20 ft wide by 20 ft tall stream of little black birds above us I could see the string of birds coming from
Lake Herman from the north west and looking south east I could see this black stream of birds all the way to Pittsburgh that’s about 11 miles this went on for 45 min. don’t know how long before I noticed them. Were these starlings? I’ve never herd or seen birds migrate in this fashion. Where were they going? It was really kind of spooky definitely felt left behind. Does this happen annually?

[Earthling1125]

12:20 PM on 11/08/2011

That is one of the coolest, most beautiful things I've ever seen - sure wish I was there in person.

Nature is amazing, awesome, and humbling.

[MrBlueBoyBlitz]

11:23 AM on 11/08/2011

awe filling and beautiful -

I just wish the scientific commentary didn't reduce everything beautiful and awe inspiring in nature to Darwinism survival of the fittest, there are other models of evolution that don't revolve around the individual fighting to survive. The effect is diminishing when they are seen as just running scared, and the wider general effect on humanity (of this type of world view) is that of meaningless fight or flight reason to be (there is no reason other than to be the king of the castle, get what you can etc), which I think is only a small aspect of a much bigger picture. Perhaps there is a collective field among the birds (that so far we don't know about) and they are doing a kind of primal evening dance to the glory of the universe, each bird filled with a little bit of that glory and joy and expressing completely in a flow state with that, and having a break from the dog eat dog world.

[Darleen Gail]

09:18 PM on 11/08/2011

Sensational, awe-inspiring video. Thank you so much for sharing such beauty with the rest of us.

To MrBlueBoyBlitz: Living by the beach for so many years, I can't help but notice how seagulls every night fly to the sandy shore and just stand there, together, watching the sun go down. What you so beautifully wrote seems to capture what could possibly be a different type of birds "primal evening (dance) to the glory of the universe, each bird filled with a little bit of the glory and joy and expressing completely in a flow state with that....". There is so much beauty out there...and there is so much we don't know/don't understand about all the wonderful beings in this world...whether big or small..."other" than man. I must admit that I have always felt joy, peace, and beauty much more often in life from nature...rather than from fellow humans. Alas...but I'll take it where ever I can get it, and I will always feel blessed and lucky when I do.

Darleen from Marina del Rey, CA

[gsmith9072]

12:22 AM on 12/20/2011

Yeah, that sounds ridiculous.

[Edward Standley]

05:01 AM on 11/08/2011

Very cool. The natural world works really well when we don't get in it's way.

[LaoShur]

04:24 AM on 11/08/2011

Beuatiful to watch..I'd sure hate to under it though!!

[Imago1122]

09:34 PM on 11/07/2011

Life can sometimes be so beautiful...