#Creationeffects flock of birds download series

To learn what’s happening inside murmurations, some researchers film them using many cameras at the same time. Somehow they keep track of how the flock is moving as a whole and adjust accordingly. Birds in the middle can see through the flock on all sides to its edge and beyond. Instead, scientists believe movements are coordinated by starlings observing what others around them are doing. Murmurations have no leader and follow no plan. How do starlings coordinate their behavior? That observation suggests that murmurations do form to help protect the birds from predators – but it’s also possible a huge murmuration would be what attracted a hawk, for instance, in the first place. A third of them saw a raptor attack the murmuration. Over 3,000 citizen scientist volunteers reported spotting murmurations in a recent study. It also must be careful not to collide with the flock and get hurt. A falcon or hawk can get confused and distracted by tricky wave patterns in the murmuration’s movements. ‘Murmuration’ by Sophie Windsor Clive & Liberty Smith.Īnd a gigantic mass of whirling, swirling birds can make it hard to focus on a single target. This special kind of flock is named for the sound of a low murmur it makes from thousands of wingbeats and soft flight calls. The European or common starling, like many birds, forms groups called flocks when foraging for food or migrating. A murmuration can move fast – starlings fly up to 50 miles per hour (80 kilometers per hour).

They look like swirling blobs, making teardrops, figure eights, columns and other shapes. Murmurations constantly change direction, flying up a few hundred meters, then zooming down to almost crash to the ground. The flock splits apart and fuses together again. As many as 750,000 birds join together in flight. If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, send it to do flocks of birds swoop and swirl together in the sky? – Artie W., age 9, Astoria, New YorkĪ shape-shifting flock of thousands of starlings, called a murmuration, is amazing to see.

#Creationeffects flock of birds download series

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