I was on my walk today and it was still light. I don't remember what caught my attention - I think that maybe out of the corner of my eye I first saw a cloud of birds coming into view from the right. There were a LOT of birds! Then they kept coming and kept coming and I realized it was a swarm of birds and they were changing direction and the swarm was going up then down then turning as then disappeared in the distance. It happened quickly and I only managed to get two exposures before they were out of sight. I am guessing they were moving at 30 to 40 miles per hour because they disappeared so fast. So I had to look up this behavior, and it seems that these are Starlings, and what they are doing, all flying together like this, is called "Murmuration," which is the name for everything that I just described. What an amazing thing to see! Please click on the image to see it larger and to see more of the birds.
Thank you for the new lesson of the day. It is amazing the amount of starlings you captured. It looks like 1,000. I have seen small groups of starlings but nothing like this. What a great photo and now I know that only starlings are the only species of birds that do this.
ReplyDeleteJoan
Another day on your blog post and another new word that I will try to remember when I see a large flock of starlings zigging and zagging overhead.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great sight and such serendipity that you managed to get even two shots of them moving so fast. And thanks for the lesson on what the event is called Linda imagesisee.blogspot.com
ReplyDeleteI was so lucky to see this! I have never seen anything like this before. I have seen the YouTube videos of course. But this was amazing in person! So glad you all appreciated it. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteI have gotten a lot of birds, probably Starlings, coming and going on the front lawn. They all swoop in, feed for a few minutes and then fly off. Have never seen the incredible numbers of birds that you photographed. Amazing! I have seen Murmurations on YouTube that were mesmerizing...Betsey
ReplyDelete