Starlings Flocking

Have you ever seen a flock of birds swirling and diving in unison? It’s mesmerizing, the way they flash in the sun in one direction, then go dark in another. They are like schooling fish, only a dark cloud, rather than a silver one.

I was coming home from a walk the other day when I saw such a cloud. several hundred starlings were flocking over a dairy barn just as the sun was setting.

I watched as the starlings swooped and swirled into the sunset. First one direction, then another.

They swirled together and spread apart, as they went over the barn a few would drop off and disappear behind it, to land in the yard no doubt. On the next pass they’d rejoin the cloud.

I watched for probably half an hour as it got darker, until finally on one last pass over the barn they, one by one, swirled down to the ground and out of sight.


Thanks for reading.
Stay well, be curious, learn things.

Kate
December, 2022

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