The Miracle of the Natural World

[stuartj]

A giant formation of starlings, an arial dance.


Murmuration on Vimeo

[stuartj]

Its really curious that someone could be so moved by a video of a formation birds in the wild that they felt the need to give it one star "terrible". lols.

[M.D. Holloway]

The idea that swarms can move as one is amazing...a collective.

[Baz]

Stuart - that was amazing - thank you for sharing.

Don't let the small minds here bring you down.....they are truly a tiny minority.

[RWebb]

maybe someone in North America gave it 1 star because introduced starlings are a major problem for native songbirds here (?)

Way cool

[Crowbob]

I was driving through the Upper Penninsula of Michigan one day and the smoke drifting across the road up ahead made me think the forest was on fire.

BUGS!

[manbridge 74]

Hate the things. Killed over 500 with various air guns when I was young. Terribly invasive bastids.

[stuartj]

Originally Posted by RWebb

maybe someone in North America gave it 1 star because introduced starlings are a major problem for native songbirds here (?)

Same where I live, I hate the bastards. Starlings and Indian Mynahs. Feral pests, the mess they make in my garden drives me nuts. And theyre clever. Too clever to shoot, trapping is the only way.

[rcooled]

Originally Posted by M.D. Holloway

The idea that swarms can move as one is amazing...a collective.

I'm always fascinated by swarms of birds flying around in unison while tuned into what seems like a 'collective consciousness’. Schools of fish do the same thing...seeming to all change direction at the exact same instant, rather than doing a 'follow-the-leader' type thing.
I remember reading somewhere that, in the case of birds and fish, each member of the swarm/school maintains a more-or-less equal distance to each of it's immediate neighbors in the group, and moves along at the same speed too. Their super-fast reactions to a change in direction make it seem like they're all moving as a single entity. There's no ‘leader’ as such...if any one individual arbitrarily changes direction, everyone else follows.

[RWebb]

scientists who work on birds (and robotics) have devoted years to the study of swarming behavior


if you have a seed or suet feeder, make it so starlings can't use it

same for any bird houses

[Crowbob]

I read where fish 'lock on' to water pressure (air pressure for birds) so that the tighter the formation, the quicker the signals travel so that you get vortices.

[stuartj]

Its a survival strategy for the fish, with apparently each fish taking turns on the outside. According to David Attenborough....the fascinating thing about the birds in the OP is the way the formation splits and merges and and appears to put on a choreographed show.

[varmint]

Originally Posted by stuartj

Its really curious that someone could be so moved by a video of a formation birds in the wild that they felt the need to give it one star "terrible". lols.

from the title they probably assumed it was going to be more pictures of breasts.

[RWebb]

but they aren't all natural

[Bob Kontak]

Originally Posted by stuartj

Its a survival strategy for the fish, with apparently each fish taking turns on the outside.

Fair is fair, right?

Pretty cool though to see a predator ram the middle of the formation and a hole opens then closes.

Here are the two gals in the canoe that made the movie. Looks like they are into something. Quonset hut?

[RWebb]

that looks like 2 graduate students shoved into a remote work/study/live space

[Jeff Higgins]

Thanks, Stuart - that was a great video. It's the unexpected gems like these that keep me poking my nose in here.