murmuration magic

The video below shows murmuration magic. It’s impressive. The location is the River Shannon, the longest river in Ireland at nearly 390km long flowing from the Shannon Pot in County Cavan and entering the Atlantic Ocean at the Shannon Estuary. The astonishing phenomena called a “murmuration” of starlings is one of those magical, wildlife spectacles on display in winter. The video below was taken by Sophie Windsor Clive and Liberty Smith, when a murmuration formed, creating startling patterns in the sky, like a speckled tornado, swirling forward, leaving the spectators breathless. Common Starlings (Sturnus vulgaris) range Eurasia, South and North Africa, North America, New Zealand and the south-east region of Australia. Starlings are small to medium-sized passerine birds in the family Sturnidae. The name “Sturnidae” comes from the latin for starling, sturnus. They live in irrigated pastures and reed-beds, around wetlands, woodlands, feedlots, mulga and on coastal plains – even in alpine areas. Water, being key to their survival, means that the high rainfall regions, irrigated areas and flooded drainage swamps support high starling densities. At roosting sites at sunrise or dusk, a murmuration of starlings departs in large groups of up to 25,000 to spread out into smaller groups. They generally feed within 2 km of the roost, although they can fly 80 km to food areas. Throughout the autumn and winter seasons, starlings travel greater distances grouped in larger flocks and fly the roost earlier. In agricultural areas they are considered a downright nuisance, even pests. Starlings are very intelligent, gregarious little birds. They eat mainly fruit and insects. When captured and tamed, or hand-raised, they’ve been taught to talk, can mimic mobile phones ringing, make delightfully engaging pets and have been known to even mimic the pet dog’s barking.

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