Thursday 3 November 2011

Is It A Plane? A UFO? Superman?

no to all of the above,

it is a murmuration of starlings, an annual event in Gretna in the Scottish borders and a signal that winter is on its way, every evening at dusk they take to the skies above Gretna Green, after a long day spent feeding in reed beds, the question is why do they not collide?


the answer is that each bird has spatial awareness, each starling tracks several other birds - irrespective of distance - which produces the group's aerial ballet, all I know is that it looks spectacular, if you are wondering about a murmuration of starlings or a skein of geese, perhaps an exaltation of larks have a look here.

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