Gazing at the ‘Black Sun’: The Transfixing Beauty of Starling Murmurations (NY Times, April 4, 2022)
Each spring and autumn, the skies in southern Denmark come to life with the swirling displays of hundreds of thousands of starlings, an event known locally as “sort sol.”
Don’t miss photos and article here.
Thank you Susan.
“The art of flying is a short film about “murmurations”: the mysterious flights of the Common Starling. It is still unknown how the thousands of birds are able to fly in such dense swarms without colliding. Every night the starlings gather at dusk to perform their stunning air show. Because of the relatively warm winter of 2014/2015, the starlings stayed in the Netherlands instead of migrating southwards.”
“The Art of Flying” by Jan van IJken
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“Tens of thousands of starlings start their murmuration, with Criffel mountain in the background, as dusk fell last night (November 5, 2014) on the England and Scotland border near Gretna Green.”
A flock of 10,000 starlings put on an impressive show near Gretna, Scotland this week. Photographer Paul Bunyard films the poetry-in-motion spectacle of nature and puts it to music.
So, you’ve seen 1 murmuration, so you’ve seen them all? Hmmmmm. No. Can’t seem to get enough. This team was shooting a commercial in Marseille France and waiting for their prop – – “when thousands and thousands of birds came and made this incredible dance in the sky.” And just look what they captured. 2.5 minutes of magnificent cinematography and music (“Hand-Made” by Alt-J). Good Thursday morning.
A bird ballet | Short Film from Neels CASTILLON on Vimeo.
Related Post:
Murmuration from Islands & Rivers on Vimeo.
“Winter must must be coming… because the starlings are flocking. Here are many thousands of the birds wheeling together in the afternoon sky near Gretna Green yesterday, as they prepare to roost together for the night. A starling flock like this is called a murmuration, a word that perfectly describes the rustle of thousands of pairs of wings. Starling murmurations are one of the most dazzling displays in the natural world, as the flock changes shape, one minute like a colossal wisp of smoke, the next a tornado, the next a thundercloud blocking the light. The huge gatherings, biggest in winter, are boosted by thousands of birds that come to Britain’s milder Atlantic climate to escape the harsh cold of the European continent, especially in Scandinavia. There are several reasons to get together in the way they do – safety in numbers, information exchange (if some come back from a good feeding area others may learn of it) and warmth at night through roosting together. The birds may feed up to 20 miles from their winter roost but return each evening.”
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