Sunday, December 19, 2010

Critical Mass of Starlings


Birding while driving is never a good idea, but while flocks of starlings wheel and twist over the highway, I give them a quick glance. When the flock is behaving this way, I suspect there’s a hawk nearby. Here it is, a red-tail, high and outside. As I leave the highway, I see another flock gathering, preparing to roost in the neighborhood. Blocks away, I arrive at my destination, still hearing the cacophony of chatters and whistles.
At one point, some called European Starlings the most abundant bird in North America. It wasn’t always so. The Acclimatization Society of New York, NY, is responsible for turning them loose on this continent in 1890. Their stated goal was to introduce to North America all the birds mentioned by Shakespeare. Henry IV, Part I is play responsible. The character Hotspur, furious at the King over his refusal to ransom Hotspur’s brother-in-law Mortimer, raves that he’ll train a starling to say “Mortimer” and give it to the King as a gift. It’s a good idea. Starlings are great mimics, as befits a member of the myna family, as this video shows.
Cooper's Hawk with flock of European Starlings
photo by zen Sutherland
European Starlings are aggressive, noisy cavity nesters. In winter, they like to roost with about 999 of their closest pals. This has not endeared them to human communities. If you have to endure these gatherings, Cornell has some advice for you, and best of luck.
In 1960, Eastern Airlines flight 375 took off from Boston and struck a flock of starlings. The crash killed 62 people, the worst accident caused by bird strike on an aircraft. We blamed them too for the decline of bluebirds. Starlings have become of the most despised of all winged creatures—right up there with mosquitoes. Recent studies, however, have failed to turn up evidence that starlings have had any negative effect on any North American species, except the sapsucker.
Our relationship with the starling may be an uneasy one, but that doesn’t diminish our fascination with those amazing flocks. An article in Wired Science, June 2010 explains their behavior as “synchronized orientation…in a critical system,” meaning that members of the flock can communicate so well that if a single bird turns, the flock of thousands can follow. The behavior dazzles humans, as well as avian predators.

18 comments:

  1. My family and I saw this behavior a few days ago next to a highway on-ramp. There were probably only about 100 of them, but the effect was still fascinating. This time of year when the starlings have their spots, I think they look nice- for some reason I don't care much for them when the spots fade!

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  2. The youtube video is so beautiful! Smaller versions of these "bird tornadoes" regularly land in the woods behind our house. When my kids were younger, they loved to burst out of the back door, clapping and yelling, just to see them all take off again.

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  3. Starlings survive well both because they are adaptable and because they help each other. They are intensely curious, and will investigate any new object for possibilities of any type. They are marvelous birds, and to be treated with respect.

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  4. I haven't seen this video before. Just lovely. :-) I remember driving home from work one evening and a flock of starlings in one of their rolling ball maneuvers flew over my car and then continued down the road ahead of me. So cool. I actually live with two rescue starlings. The little stinkers are very, very smart and adaptable. One of my starlings has a pretty big vocabulary, almost entirely made up of compliments ("You are so smart" is my favorite). Unless it's a compliment, all those other words just aren't that interesting to her. :-)

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  5. I agree, Mike, starlings are quite snazzy when they're in winter plumage. And now I know I'm not the only one who birds while driving!

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  6. Wish I'd thought to describe them as "bird tornadoes!" I also wish I had a picture of the kids chasing the the birds--sounds fun!

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  7. Steve makes a very good point. They're successful and fascinating to watch, though we humans sometimes categorize them as undesirable. It's interesting that recent research indicates that in spite of being an invasive alien species, they do about as much good as harm.

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  8. Thanks for your comments Maria! I enjoyed your story about Starlinka, your pet starling so much! I hope everyone checks it out!

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  9. I love the hypnosis of the tornado bird-masses that remind me of great schools of fish in the sea and reefs. Thanks for using my photo, too!

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  10. Your photo is very cool, zen! Thanks for making it available. Starlings do behave something like those bait balls we see in BBC's Blue Planet.

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  11. Everybody's talking about starlings! BirdChick has video of a starling spa, and Seabrooke illustrates some fine points of identifying young birds.

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  12. Fascinating post, I live in the UK (not far from Otmoor where the film was taken) and starlings here are 'red listed' having suffered an 80% decline in recent years, yet still these vast flocks are utterly mesmerising.
    Interesting that it hasn't had that much effect on US species, I wonder if it has helped your birds of prey?

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  13. Whether they cause harm to native species is controversial, but the evidence that they do is reportedly weak. In my area they have declined somewhat due to West Nile virus, but I'm surprised to hear of such a drastic decline on your side of the pond. As to the benefit for birds of prey I can't say, but I've seen Cooper's Hawk take more than one. As I was heading down the highway one day, I saw a Red-tailed Hawk snatch a starling out of the air! Thanks for a very interesting comment, Richard. Happy holidays!

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  14. I was so awestruck by that video that I had to put it on my blog, too. Thank you for sharing!

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  15. The BBC video really captured an amazing sight. Glad you enjoyed it too!

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  16. Beautiful video, thanks so much for posting it.

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  17. You're welcome, Georgia! You might want to check out this post from a British blogger, Views of the Ock. He posts a different video and has information about starlings in their native country. Happy New Year!

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  18. I will be releasing a documentary on the starlings in the United States within the next couple months. I hope to get it on PBS this fall. Here's a trailer https://vimeo.com/67964332 and web site http://sturnusvulgaris.com. We don't have starling murmuration near the number at Otmoor, but some can be quite large. Here's the murmuration I filmed several years back at Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA https://vimeo.com/17684745

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