.UK Weather: Sunset & flocks of Starlings over the Irish Sea and North Pier. Tens of thousands of starlings appear on the sky at dusk before roost in the shelter of the ironwork in the Victorian Pier where they are safe from predators. Often the behaviour is sparked by the presence of a predator like a hawk or peregrine falcon, and the flock's movement is based on evasive manoeuvres. In calm conditions they alight on the pier, (an extraordinarily rare phenomenon), in a great black group waiting for the opportune moment to go to roost. Credit; MediaWorldImages/Alamy Live New


Starling flocks: a wild spectacle. Murmuration exaltation: a starling flock forms a fantastic acrobatic mass before roosting. Image: David Kjaer. A murmuration of starlings is an amazing sight - a swooping mass of thousands of birds whirling in the sky. As starlings gather in the evenings to roost, often they will participate in what is called a murmuration — a huge flock that shape-shifts in the sky as if it were one swirling liquid mass. Often the behavior is sparked by the presence of a predator like a hawk or peregrine falcon, and the flock's movement is based on evasive maneuvers. There is safety in numbers, so the individual starlings do not scatter, but rather are able to move as an intelligent cloud, feinting away from a diving raptor, thousands of birds changing direction almost simultaneously. The question that has had scientists stumped is how a bird, tens or hundreds of birds away from those nearest danger, sense the shift and move in unison?


Size: 3888px × 2592px
Location: Blackpool, Lancashire, UK
Photo credit: © MediaWorldImages / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

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