Nature’s beauty is found nearly everywhere if we but look. Sometimes Mother Nature just flat-out gets in your face! Take, for example, a murmuration. The Oxford Dictionary defines a murmuration as “A large gathering of starlings creating intricate patterns in flight”. I’ve often seen murmurations near Kelseyville on the way to Clear Lake State Park, and I was telling Trudy about a HUGE murmuration that I’d seen recently in Santa Rosa, close to River Road. It is truly something to see when this mesmerizing display of synchronicity occurs, despite the fact that the European starlings are non-native to North America.
Starlings, medium-sized passerines (in the sparrow family), are approximately 8 inches long with shiny black-to-metallic feathers salted with white at certain times of the year. They are officially designated as an invasive alien species and can be quite harmful to crops and other bird species. Past studies by ornithologists have shown that starlings consume millions of dollars’ worth of grain and are notorious for tossing bluebird eggs from nest boxes.
European starlings were launched into North America by a Shakespeare enthusiast and member of the American Acclimatization Society who, in 1890, thought it would be great to release the birds in New York’s Central Park. Members of his organization believed that it was up to them to develop North America by introducing plants and animals that were interesting. Starlings reproduce, spreading at a rate of 50 miles each year. To explain how quickly starlings adapted to their new surroundings, they took over the U.S. East Coast by 1920, and as of the 1960s, they spread out and occupied the West Coast all the way up to Alaska!
According to information on the Cornell Lab All About Birds website, through annual bird counts and published papers, ornithologists today are finding that the dramatic damage caused by starlings is not as severe as they previously thought. Studies are showing that tree swallows are now thriving, and that other bird species seem to be adapting to having the starlings around.
Apparently, murmurations occur as a means of security from predators. When a large mass of starlings fly in unison, they appear as a deterrent to hawks and falcons. Much as schooling fish suspended in water appear as a formidable cluster to their predators, flocking birds perform what is called rote locomotion. The shapes and swirls cause quite a satisfying display! Ornithologists say that many bird species form flocks; however, starlings form huge murmurations. In order to fly in unison, starlings utilize peripheral vision and are able to track their neighboring birds’ movements. It is believed that starlings murmurate more in cold weather in order to warm up through their large mass, or when actively being pursued.
Through viewing a quiet symphony like a murmuration, our lens of wonder opens. Here’s hoping that we can love the flocks of starlings as they dive the skies like a liquid throng, fluttering and flying in amazing formation, without our dreading the damage they have caused in the past.
