Among the many mysteries of Nature which no one, not even scientists, could explain is why thousands of starlings fly in shape-changing formations like an intricately choreographed mass aerial dance in the twilight above England and Scotland every autumn. The birds fly in swarms like shifting dark clouds in the sky. This unusual natural phenomenon is called murmuration. This occurs during the starlings' annual migration by the millions from Russia and Scandinavia to escape winter’s frigid bite. The starlings' murmuration is an example of "swarm intelligence", which is also practiced by schools of fish, swarms of bees and colonies of ants.
Amazing and intriguing in the starlings’ aerobatics is the tiny birds' split-second reaction time [of less than 100 milliseconds] to avoid collisions.
Two British women were out for a late afternoon canoe ride when they were treated to an awesome display of murmuration.
Fortunately, one of them happened to take along her video and was able to capture on videotape the birds' aerial dance performance.
Below, be amazed and awed by one of Nature's wonders captured on the video.
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Murmuration
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