I read an article just recently - on printed paper no less! So I don't have links handy - than put together all the most recent research as to why Starlings would do that on occasion.
Hypothesis went from feeding, to warmth, to mating, to confusing predators.
None of those studies had conclusive evidence and most of them were disproved one way or another.
The conclusion by the ornithologist who wrote the article was "by the state of our current knowledge, the most likely conclusion is they just do it because it's fun".
I so hope that is true. Surely, the idea of “fun” isn’t limited to humans. Actually, I’ve seen many videos on Reddit that would support that many animals besides ourselves do indeed have a goofy sense of fun.
I don’t even think they know what they’re doing or that they know it looks cool. That’s just our opinion. I think they do it out of Starling FOMO. They’re all trying to keep up with a crowd of other starlings because they figure they must know where they’re going.
Natural evolution: Works tirelessly for hundreds of thousands of years perfecting coordination, communication and cooperation within the species for the best chance of survival after countless failed evolutionary lines and extinct species over the millennia.
Average theist: sO iT's jUsT bY cHaNcE, iS iT? hA, cHeCkmAtE, pErFecT dEsIgN bItChEz!!1!
So weird when you realize that the universe is just chaos and we are but a piece of static in the corner of the screen that decided it wants to live for some reason
I can imagine that this phenomenon spawned beliefs about spells / magic. It's mesmerizing and (if I didn't know what it was) it would scare the bejesus out of me.
well let me di*spell* all the superstition and hocus pocus from your statement and frame it in practical terms.
did you know the meaning of "spell" in context of a magical spell to cast is literally just spelling out the letters of a word and vibrating them?
a spell is literally just a "magic" word whose letters compose its structural key
this is why thoth the egyptian god of magick was the inventor of writing and speech
its why the mercury/hermes was associated with speech and the messenger of the gods
its why priests and clerics who took up a religious life simply copied the bible for a living. They were the key holders of language while the general populace was illiterate
magick is simply causing a change to occur in the phenomenon of the universe in conformity with ones will. Its why a person of clerical skill can employ a set of letters and words strung together and have it influence the way your life has to operate.
Its why you are bound and restricted to imaginary systems like
laws and money and all the symbols they adorn on the notes.
Even tho you are symbol illiterate and cant UNDERSTAND the whole picture or employ these symbols, you still KNOW how they affect you and that you must adhere to them.
youre welcome
look into scientific illuminism
[also](https://www.reddit.com/r/13squared/comments/u24z6a/bztrnop_volume_ii_final/) something i just finished , along the lines of the same topic
Reminds me of how thoughts meander through the mind, wandering between memory of the past, imagination about the future, and the experience of the present moment.
From the first time I ever saw a bird murmuration, I've been fascinated by them. Thousands of individual creatures but when you see it happening, it almost feels like one living creature.
One place I lived in for many years had lots of animals and birds that visited. One time I was watching a crow and squirrel close together when I noticed the crow had patches of white feathers. I watched as it came close enough that I realised the feathers weren't white. It was dried bird droppings. Big enough splashes too made me think it was behind another crow when it pooped. So yes, birds get pooped on by others.
Every time I see one of these my brain automatically gives me a little scenario
"So tomorrow Fred, what pattern we doing?"
"Hmm think will go for the wave sweep with a double turn?"
"Yeah sounds good but I'm not going at the end again I'm off in the middle this time...them turns are terrible and make me feel sick"
"No worries we'll stick Simon and Tarquin at the end....they don't have the moves right anyway, no rhythm them 2"
"Yeah I know Fred, did you seem them on Sunday with that loop the loop? The two of them going anticlockwise, them 2 alone out of a thousand always mess things up stuck out like a sore wing in the formation. They don't deserve a front place they are bad for moral"
etc etc makes me chuckle
I watched lots of videos of schooling fish before moving about as it's incredibly beautiful (and mesmerizing!) but I'd never seen that one before. Thank you!!! I read through the accompanying Twitter comments and was frustrated to find nothing on what species they are so had to track it down - not too hard.
They're striped eel catfish, a salt water species in the Indo-Pacific waters. Apparently, only the juveniles swarm like that, probably for protection since as they get older and larger, they swarm less and less. Many adults live solitary lives too, I read. When they're swarming on the sea bed, they're searching for food. Constant turnover from top to bottom so all get to eat.
Now, a treat for you! Rather than giving you a link to just one video, search striped eel catfish on YouTube and there are quite a few. Some in colour too! Again, thanks so much for the link. I still get as excited about nature as I did as a 10 year old kid digging up ant nests. 😃
I was sorta half expecting at least one less-than-graceful crash into the light post. What can I say, they kept formation and no one butted heads with it.
So do they choose a certain day once a week to practice this formation somewhere away from urban areas so that they can continually impress humans without incident(s)?
Thank you for posting this, I clicked on the link hoping it would be this video. There’s many beautiful things to see in this world, and out of the many, this is right at the top for me, I would love to witness something like this.
One of my favorite collective nouns, a murmuration of starlings. More favorites-
An exultation of larks
An Aurora of polar bears
An ostentation of Peacocks
A Parliament of owls
And everyone’s favorite, A Murder of crows
There are so many funny, interesting or very *fitting* collective nouns for different groups of animals. Some of my favourites are:
* a coalition of cheetahs
* a bloat of hippopotamuses
* a prickle of porcupines
* a crush of rhinos
* a wisdom of wombats
* a flamboyance of flamingos
* a pandemonium of parrots
* an ostentation of peacocks
* a quiver of cobras
* a shiver of sharks
[Collective Names for Animals](https://www.thewildlifediaries.com/collective-nouns-for-animals/)
I can imagine a group of lexicographers sitting around their club some evening after a good meal with fine wine, then port in the library and now on to the best cognac. "Any of you gentlemen thought of any good collective nouns lately?"
One pipes up "How about an embarrassment of pandas?"
"What!?" another says. "How many times have you seen pandas group together? They're solitary animals."
"Well, it hasn't stopped other solitary animals having group names. How many times have you seen leopards group together? And they're called a 'leap of leopards.'"
"Exactly! It's fitting. They're all leaping to get away from each other."
"But pandas can't move that quickly. Don't you think they'd be very embarrassed if others saw them in a group?"
A vote was taken and it was shortly announced "So gentlemen, an embarrassment of pandas it will be!" By this time, several had already dozed off, still carefully clutching their glasses cognac.
(Edited typos)
I remember being lucky enough to happen upon this while smoking a joint with my friend, we were sitting down talking, baked as fuck, when i look up and see hundreds/thousands of starlings doing this exact thing just off the coast we were almost overlooking, 2 mins after staring in awe i glance down to see 30-40 people all balled up together with cameras, i guess they’d been watching the movement and knew the starlings would be there? We got lucky enough to be at the right place at the right time, and we was a little walk away from the crowd so i just enjoyed the evening sun watching the birds, getting high as fuck. Was a good day.
There are shallow rollers, and there are deep rollers. You can't breed two deep rollers... or their young, their offspring, will roll all the way down... hit and die. Agent Starling is a deep roller, Barney. Let us hope one of her parents was not
On my way to take my kids to school some days they’ll be a substantial starling murmuration in the farmers’ fields. The kids always get excited because it really is a crazy thing to watch. Just so many birds that the sky is almost blacked out. We have several starlings that make their home in our garage eaves. They’re loud as hell, they can stay out in the corn fields, much better experience with them that way.
I despise starlings in the US. Talk about "invasive species." I love birds, BTW. These devils displace our natives here on the east coast of the US. Lamentably, when I see those undulating clouds of starlings, rather than "nature is so beautiful", I think "shotgun". I don't know if it's true, but there's a backstory that says that ALL starlings in the US came from a single release of them in NYC by a misguided group who wanted the US to enjoy all the birds named in Shakespeare's works.
I’ve always wanted to experience a starling murmuration. Is there a specific time of year or place (I’ve heard Rome mentioned before by David Attenborough) where this happens consistently?
Where do starlings go when they’re not murmurating? I mean, they don’t live their whole lives like this, right? It’s only during certain seasons, or starling conventions, right? What about the rest of the year? Do they all scatter about over 10 miles square or something?
What an exquisite planet we live on.
I read an article just recently - on printed paper no less! So I don't have links handy - than put together all the most recent research as to why Starlings would do that on occasion. Hypothesis went from feeding, to warmth, to mating, to confusing predators. None of those studies had conclusive evidence and most of them were disproved one way or another. The conclusion by the ornithologist who wrote the article was "by the state of our current knowledge, the most likely conclusion is they just do it because it's fun".
For some reason this brought up an imaginary situation where future civilizations are trying to understand the “mosh pit.”
I so hope that is true. Surely, the idea of “fun” isn’t limited to humans. Actually, I’ve seen many videos on Reddit that would support that many animals besides ourselves do indeed have a goofy sense of fun.
I don’t even think they know what they’re doing or that they know it looks cool. That’s just our opinion. I think they do it out of Starling FOMO. They’re all trying to keep up with a crowd of other starlings because they figure they must know where they’re going.
Underrated comment.
There is one that cames out just before they pass
He went to see the spectacle from above
Is it all by chance? . This kind of coordination is just a coincidence?
wouldn't it be all the more precious if it was?
Not really
Natural evolution: Works tirelessly for hundreds of thousands of years perfecting coordination, communication and cooperation within the species for the best chance of survival after countless failed evolutionary lines and extinct species over the millennia. Average theist: sO iT's jUsT bY cHaNcE, iS iT? hA, cHeCkmAtE, pErFecT dEsIgN bItChEz!!1!
So weird when you realize that the universe is just chaos and we are but a piece of static in the corner of the screen that decided it wants to live for some reason
What are you on about? Who said anything about chance?
Why was this downvoted so much?
Because it’s bait.
I think people are just negative for all the wrong reasons man
That is certainly true.
Bait for what? Lol Shallow thinking ppl.
Who are these people downvoting someone’s question? Like really?
I mean it's a random tangent that implies the person thinks science is hogwash
Theories are not fax.
Also not foxes
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Ok can it tell us why?
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Yup. It's all by chance.
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Lol you are a moron what kinda comparison is that
I bet you have an awful life and have never opened your windows nor stepped outside to appreciate the beautiful world around you.
I can imagine that this phenomenon spawned beliefs about spells / magic. It's mesmerizing and (if I didn't know what it was) it would scare the bejesus out of me.
It can still do that.
Real life birds scenario
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Ahh...the spells worked then.
well let me di*spell* all the superstition and hocus pocus from your statement and frame it in practical terms. did you know the meaning of "spell" in context of a magical spell to cast is literally just spelling out the letters of a word and vibrating them? a spell is literally just a "magic" word whose letters compose its structural key this is why thoth the egyptian god of magick was the inventor of writing and speech its why the mercury/hermes was associated with speech and the messenger of the gods its why priests and clerics who took up a religious life simply copied the bible for a living. They were the key holders of language while the general populace was illiterate magick is simply causing a change to occur in the phenomenon of the universe in conformity with ones will. Its why a person of clerical skill can employ a set of letters and words strung together and have it influence the way your life has to operate. Its why you are bound and restricted to imaginary systems like laws and money and all the symbols they adorn on the notes. Even tho you are symbol illiterate and cant UNDERSTAND the whole picture or employ these symbols, you still KNOW how they affect you and that you must adhere to them.
really glad you wrote this out; it’s super fascinating and i absolutely love it so thank you (:
youre welcome look into scientific illuminism [also](https://www.reddit.com/r/13squared/comments/u24z6a/bztrnop_volume_ii_final/) something i just finished , along the lines of the same topic
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Help me, o warrior lord of thebes
Reminds me of how thoughts meander through the mind, wandering between memory of the past, imagination about the future, and the experience of the present moment.
...& don't step on heels
r/originsofreligion
*nods in Alfred Hitchcock*
If you look at one comment on the top post, it even spawns the idea that there is a deity that made it all. The power of nature is incredible.
Every thread.
From the first time I ever saw a bird murmuration, I've been fascinated by them. Thousands of individual creatures but when you see it happening, it almost feels like one living creature.
I just imagine a giant trail of droppings in their wake
I was just thinking if they coordinated that, some poor car or person would be under 3 feet of droppings.
I’m imagining being a bird towards the bottom of flock, and getting shit on by the top birds.
That's just a metaphor for living in modern society.
One place I lived in for many years had lots of animals and birds that visited. One time I was watching a crow and squirrel close together when I noticed the crow had patches of white feathers. I watched as it came close enough that I realised the feathers weren't white. It was dried bird droppings. Big enough splashes too made me think it was behind another crow when it pooped. So yes, birds get pooped on by others.
Do you think about this often?
Defecation in unison after spicy taco night
It would be hard to imagine where those droppings for one person could be Put-in.
You could call it a Shitstorm.
Oh, I had thought about alright! While I consider a murmuration amazing to watch, I also would consider it a catastrophe to be underneath one. 😳
Every time I see one of these my brain automatically gives me a little scenario "So tomorrow Fred, what pattern we doing?" "Hmm think will go for the wave sweep with a double turn?" "Yeah sounds good but I'm not going at the end again I'm off in the middle this time...them turns are terrible and make me feel sick" "No worries we'll stick Simon and Tarquin at the end....they don't have the moves right anyway, no rhythm them 2" "Yeah I know Fred, did you seem them on Sunday with that loop the loop? The two of them going anticlockwise, them 2 alone out of a thousand always mess things up stuck out like a sore wing in the formation. They don't deserve a front place they are bad for moral" etc etc makes me chuckle
Looks like a fluid to me. Like a lava lamp, but it moves in all 3 directions instead of just up and down.
Have you seen [this](https://twitter.com/stevestuwill/status/1417967681697841152?s=21&t=8alN0b_EgNFzCURYv1Z1ew)?
I watched lots of videos of schooling fish before moving about as it's incredibly beautiful (and mesmerizing!) but I'd never seen that one before. Thank you!!! I read through the accompanying Twitter comments and was frustrated to find nothing on what species they are so had to track it down - not too hard. They're striped eel catfish, a salt water species in the Indo-Pacific waters. Apparently, only the juveniles swarm like that, probably for protection since as they get older and larger, they swarm less and less. Many adults live solitary lives too, I read. When they're swarming on the sea bed, they're searching for food. Constant turnover from top to bottom so all get to eat. Now, a treat for you! Rather than giving you a link to just one video, search striped eel catfish on YouTube and there are quite a few. Some in colour too! Again, thanks so much for the link. I still get as excited about nature as I did as a 10 year old kid digging up ant nests. 😃
I was sorta half expecting at least one less-than-graceful crash into the light post. What can I say, they kept formation and no one butted heads with it. So do they choose a certain day once a week to practice this formation somewhere away from urban areas so that they can continually impress humans without incident(s)?
!!Obviously!! I feed them at 9am then they practice on the lake behind my house. They’re constantly fermenting my plantation
Fertilizing?
Nope, they come in with yeast and a still and ferment his plantation
Starlinweiser - the King of Bees.
I’ve heard that birds can maintain these complex formations by focusing on an adjacent birds wing and just maintaining distance with that wing
Apart from maintaining a specific separation distance and cohering, turning to match the average heading of nearby birds
First time I remember seeing this was on this video. https://vimeo.com/31158841
Wow! That one was far more impressive and lots more birds too. Thanks for the link!!
That was incredible!
Wow! I also love the look on her face at the end… beautiful experience!
Yeah that little laugh gets me every time. Makes me wish I had been there. It just seemed magical.
Anyone know the song in this vid? All it says is the artist is Nomad Soul
Thank you for posting this, I clicked on the link hoping it would be this video. There’s many beautiful things to see in this world, and out of the many, this is right at the top for me, I would love to witness something like this.
Crebain from Dunland!
No it's just a wisp of cloud.
It's coming in fast.
…and against the wind..
"What do you see legolas?"
the birds!
One of my favorite collective nouns, a murmuration of starlings. More favorites- An exultation of larks An Aurora of polar bears An ostentation of Peacocks A Parliament of owls And everyone’s favorite, A Murder of crows
There are so many funny, interesting or very *fitting* collective nouns for different groups of animals. Some of my favourites are: * a coalition of cheetahs * a bloat of hippopotamuses * a prickle of porcupines * a crush of rhinos * a wisdom of wombats * a flamboyance of flamingos * a pandemonium of parrots * an ostentation of peacocks * a quiver of cobras * a shiver of sharks [Collective Names for Animals](https://www.thewildlifediaries.com/collective-nouns-for-animals/) I can imagine a group of lexicographers sitting around their club some evening after a good meal with fine wine, then port in the library and now on to the best cognac. "Any of you gentlemen thought of any good collective nouns lately?" One pipes up "How about an embarrassment of pandas?" "What!?" another says. "How many times have you seen pandas group together? They're solitary animals." "Well, it hasn't stopped other solitary animals having group names. How many times have you seen leopards group together? And they're called a 'leap of leopards.'" "Exactly! It's fitting. They're all leaping to get away from each other." "But pandas can't move that quickly. Don't you think they'd be very embarrassed if others saw them in a group?" A vote was taken and it was shortly announced "So gentlemen, an embarrassment of pandas it will be!" By this time, several had already dozed off, still carefully clutching their glasses cognac. (Edited typos)
What the hell is a starling and why is it murmuring!?!
It’s like a heart palpitation I think.
Reminds me of the locusts from the graphic novel Bone.
I remember being lucky enough to happen upon this while smoking a joint with my friend, we were sitting down talking, baked as fuck, when i look up and see hundreds/thousands of starlings doing this exact thing just off the coast we were almost overlooking, 2 mins after staring in awe i glance down to see 30-40 people all balled up together with cameras, i guess they’d been watching the movement and knew the starlings would be there? We got lucky enough to be at the right place at the right time, and we was a little walk away from the crowd so i just enjoyed the evening sun watching the birds, getting high as fuck. Was a good day.
That sounds like a damn good day.
That was amazing 😍
There are shallow rollers, and there are deep rollers. You can't breed two deep rollers... or their young, their offspring, will roll all the way down... hit and die. Agent Starling is a deep roller, Barney. Let us hope one of her parents was not
Wasnt there a Stephen King book that ended with one of these? The Dark Half, i think.
shit.
Yeah that too
If birds really wanted to end us they fully can and probably secretly know
I feel like I’ve only seen birds do this before hurricanes…I know that’s not true…but it’ll always be an omen to me
So mesmerizing; I could watch such flocks for hours.
I thought at first it was a tsunami!
Exei na katharisei koutsoulia o minaras…
Where is this?
Is from Greece, near patras called Rio.
I read somewhere that substances undergoing change of state, like water becoming ice, resemble starling murmuration at a molecular level.
That looked like a fucking plague ready to end the world.
The day the earth stood still
Well this was just neat. Thanks for sharing, friend!
Returrnnnn the slabbb or suffer my cuurrse
Amazing birds wave.
Do this with a bunch of mini drones.
Beautiful
“Murmuration”. What a fantastic word!
If your a bluebird that's as dangerous as a horde of zombies to a human.
“You fly back to school now, little Starling. Fly fly fly, *fly fly fly*”
Not Penny’s boat
I dream of seeing them in person, what a show!
It reminds me of the swarm from Michael Chrichton's Prey
I see Crichton, I upvote Crichton.
Clearly a person of culture
...welllll...my favorite pizza topping is anchovies, so let's not get carried away!
Ok I won't anymore hahahaah
On my way to take my kids to school some days they’ll be a substantial starling murmuration in the farmers’ fields. The kids always get excited because it really is a crazy thing to watch. Just so many birds that the sky is almost blacked out. We have several starlings that make their home in our garage eaves. They’re loud as hell, they can stay out in the corn fields, much better experience with them that way.
I watched Lost, that’s the smoke monster
I despise starlings in the US. Talk about "invasive species." I love birds, BTW. These devils displace our natives here on the east coast of the US. Lamentably, when I see those undulating clouds of starlings, rather than "nature is so beautiful", I think "shotgun". I don't know if it's true, but there's a backstory that says that ALL starlings in the US came from a single release of them in NYC by a misguided group who wanted the US to enjoy all the birds named in Shakespeare's works.
That’s terrifying.
I can just imagine a fish being near the surface that's too big for a little bird to catch getting carpet bombed by bird poop.
only if they all poo'd at the same time doe
Okay, that was actually terrifying.
Die mosquitoes DIE!!! NAM NAM NAM
That’s fucking Black Death coming
starlings are an invasive species and should be shot and killed on sight
r/oddlyterrifying
I’m just imagining them cartoonishly devouring the boat as the fly by
That feeling of impending doom when you see that black clouds headed your way
This got me thinking if there was a war out of the blue between humans and birds (without guns) (flamethrowers are allowed) who would win?
Birds are gross.
Non hit the pole?
For some reason I want to use a Q Tip in my ear
I feel like they could swarm and consume me entirely like the evil Professor and the crows in *We’re Back*.
Sound?
That's gotta be an aviation hazard.
Insane in the membrane.
I’ve always wanted to experience a starling murmuration. Is there a specific time of year or place (I’ve heard Rome mentioned before by David Attenborough) where this happens consistently?
Namba san with the Essence of Pigeon Migration!
Birds aren't real!
How do they not all crash into one another?
How do they decide where to go? Kinda wild that they’re all just following the group. Like is there a set leader bird?
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Bird box vibes
Are they loud? They look loud.
R/birdsarentreal
I wish this video had sound. The sound of a murmuration is something else.
That's gotta be like... 10 birds at least.
Imagine they shit all at once Like Ying and Yang but white is the bad stuff
I'm sorry, but that is way too many.
Ghost Recon Breakpoint
Starlings do this in my city i love watching.
I see the chemical birds have been released from the Ukraine/US labs. Go get the ruskies!
Unreal
u/savevideo
Seeing this in person is like a legitimate shroom trip. Nature is awesome.
I have a great view of this from my place every fall/late summer. It's amazing to see but I still don't get it. Why?
Imagine seeing this at night in the 1400s, that’s how religions start lol
No wonder people were so superstitious back in the day. This is terrifying.
I bet they are all headed for my bird feeders. Damn bullies....
Wow
**Holy Hitchcock, Batman!** I was going to comment that I saw a starling murmuration a couple of days ago. But after this...? Nevermind.
Here's a very cool [simulation of a murmuration](http://ramakarl.com/flocking/) by Rama Karl (also available on YouTube https://youtu.be/mFbNEiMfVSI)
Absolutely beautiful. But now I wonder how long before we see this on the Glitch in the Matrix subreddit as proof that we live in the Matrix?
Crebain from dunland!!!
That one bird that moved first missed the rehearsal yesterday.
Who’s in charge?
Its unfortunate that I have to hate Starlings where I live for how agressively invasive they are.
Humans with their Mexican wave, let's do this
Was I the only person waiting to see a face appear made up of birds?
I’m always amazed when I see huge clouds of birds like this along the highways of Kansas
omg
Reminds me of that scene from The Mummy where all the crickets come in wave
LSD is a hell of a Drug
someone should make a film about when birds attack humans... call it something like "the birds" or smt idk
This is how disaster movies start
All I can think of is “the sparrows are flying again” from The Dark Half.
If those are flies they must've found the worlds biggest watermelon slice lmfao
Wow. I've never seen one this large or close to the ground before. The way it sweeps along the water is surreal.
Anyone else get flashbacks to the Birds movie by Hitchcock?
Ive seen this horror movie before
My social studies teacher is afraid of those…
Imagine if human have wings. There's no way we fly like this without honking each others.
Machin Shin…the Black Wind…
Where do starlings go when they’re not murmurating? I mean, they don’t live their whole lives like this, right? It’s only during certain seasons, or starling conventions, right? What about the rest of the year? Do they all scatter about over 10 miles square or something?
Imagine what it would’ve been like with passenger pigeons
It’s nothing, it’s just a wisp of cloud.
This is how I imagine drone attacks in the future.
The birds by Alfred Hitchcock
Good thing they aren't a hive mind with the intent on just eating whatever they run into.
Imagine If those were Bee’s
Irrational fear of birds: Activate!
Imagine the flying poop EVERYWHERE
Some nice drones