starlings flying in the shape of a bird

[tblue37]

Link to tweet

[applegrove]

1. That is a fractal. Nature is amazing.

[Easterncedar]

2. On edit: Awesome!

Amazing is overused already

[3catwoman3]

4. Overused, true, but occasionally someone or something actually is.

This is one of those moments.

[Easterncedar]

6. Indeed! I immediately wrote Awesome! and saw I was echoing, so edited myself

It must have astonished and thrilled the photographer, too.

[AllaN01Bear]

3. cool mumeratiobn

on edit: At sunset, huge groups of starlings take to the sky, swooping and swirling into spheres, planes and waves. The phenomenon is called a murmuration, and it's named after the noise that is made by the many flapping wings of a group of starlings in flight.

[LogDog75]

5. The way they fly in a group is amazing but....

If you ever saw the mess they leave you'd think differently of them. In early 2001, our clinic at McClellan AFB in Sacramento had thousands of starlings fly so close by in the late afternoon that their droppings were landing on our building, sidewalks, parking lot, and cars. That bird crap wasn't good for the health for our patients and we had to power wash the area a couple of times. The base set up some powerful speakers by our clinic and play a recording of a starling being attack by an eagle. Whenever the starling came within range of the sound they immediately moved away. After a couple of days using the speakers, the starlings moved elsewhere.

Yeah, they're amazing to watch in flight but not where you live or work.