A collective and synchronized movement of starlings is called a
murmuration. :)
Very cool (but I'm not sure if I'd want to be looking up at all of them! ;) ).
http://vimeo.com/31158841
That always amazes me with flocks of birds. I wonder at what point they decide to follow one another....."hey let's all follow that guy"
That may be the most amazing thing I've ever seen caught on home video. I love how you can hear the tension in the cameragirl's breathing.
I've seen flocks of starlings up here that number in the thousands. I've driven over the highway 5 bridge that goes over the Columbia River between Washington and Oregon when they were all sitting in and on the bridge. The noise was deafening! There's a huge corrosion issue due to the poop on the bridge actually so they've installed cannons to try and scare the birds off. Not sure if the effect helps though, the cannon goes off, scares the crap out of the birds (and the drivers), they all fly off then, almost immediately, settle right back onto the bridge! LOL. :D
I've never seen them do those flying patterns though - would love to someday! :)
The BBC "Planet Earth" series from a couple years ago captured one of these events, pretty stunning to witness in HiDef.
Ooo... Thanks for the reminder! I think that series is available from On Demand through my cable... I'll have to look for it. :)