These incredible photos reveal split-second moments of one of the most mysterious natural phenomena in the sky
Starlings are indigenous to Europe, Asia, and Africa, but have since been introduced to North America and northern Australia. So, if you're in the right spot at the right time, you might see one, like this sting-ray shaped murmuration:
There are nearly 120 species of starlings, and they don't seem to mind mixing it up. In fact, starlings are famous for their gregarious nature. You can find multiple different species within the same murmuration.
During non-breeding seasons, starlings will roost together in groups of hundreds to thousands. It's usually during this same time that you'll see giant murmurations like this goose-shaped one:
There's no obvious rhyme or reason to what direction the flock will turn and when. Sometimes certain sections will break off forming separate groups, like this one:
and this one, too:
Other times, you'll see a densely packed group amidst the rest of the flock, like the darker clump toward the right of this murmuration:
To some degree, physicists have managed to describe the random motion of murmurations with the same equations that they use to interpret phase transitions, like when a liquid turns to a gas.
Source: Wired
It seems like starlings at one end of the flock know exactly direction starlings on the other end — hundreds of birds apart — are going to move and when. And scientists can't figure out how this is possible.
Source: Wired
Regardless of how or why, starling murmurations are without-a-doubt one of the most peculiar natural phenomena in the sky.
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