When starlings flock together, wheeling and darting through the sky in tight, fluid formations, we call it a murmuration. These murmurations can range from small groups of a few hundred starlings in a small ball, to undulating seas of millions of birds, blocking out the sun. I thought today would be a good day to just take a few moments and appreciate the simple beauty of murmurations, captured by various photographers over the past few years.
The Murmurations of Starlings
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Read moreA murmuration of migrating starlings flies over the southern Israeli village of Tidhar, on February 12, 2014. #
AP Photo/Oded Balilty -
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Read moreStarlings fly over a field outside Bucharest, Romania, on November 20, 2011. #
AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda -
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Read moreStarlings flock over a field near the Israeli town of Netivot, on January 25, 2013. #
David Buimovitch/AFP/Getty Images -
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Read moreStarlings sit on power lines on October 6, 2011 in Lebus, Germany. #
Patrick Pleul/AFP/Getty Images -
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Read moreMurmurating starlings, before landing during sunset near Tidhar, in the northern Israeli Negev desert, on February 12, 2014. #
Menahem Kahana/AFP/Getty Images -
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Read moreStarlings migrating from northern Europe fly over Rome, on November 8, 2012. About one-million starlings migrate through Rome during autumn and winter, spending the nights in the trees by the Tiber river, creating chaos in the neighborhood with their droppings. #
Gabriel Bouys/AFP/Getty Images -
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Read moreA flock of migrating starlings over a field near Netivot, Israel, on January 25, 2013. #
David Buimovitch/AFP/Getty Images -
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Read moreStarlings in a tree in Rome, Italy, on December 3, 2013. #
Gabriel Bouys/AFP/Getty Images -
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Read moreA flock of Starlings fly over a field outside Bucharest, Romania, on November 20, 2011. #
AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda -
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Read moreA hawk soars over starlings flying over Rahovec, Kosovo, on October 15, 2009. #
Reuters/Hazir Reka -
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Read moreA large flock of starlings fly over an Algiers park at sunset, on February 15, 2006. #
Fayez Nureldine/AFP/Getty Images -
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Read moreA murmuration of starlings fly over an agricultural field near Netivot, Israel, on February 12, 2014. #
Reuters/Amir Cohen -
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Read moreMigrating starlings, over the southern Israeli village of Tidhar, on February 12, 2014. #
AP Photo/Oded Balilty -
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Read moreA large flock of starlings fly near Bacau, Romania, on December 10, 2013. #
AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda -
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Read moreStarlings sit on a tree, the moon in the background, on February 11, 2014, near Friedrichsdorf, Germany. #
Frank Rumpenhorst/AFP/Getty Images -
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Read moreA city worker in Rome uses recorded starling distress calls to repel the birds coming to spend the night by the Tiber river. A car sits covered with starling droppings, on November 8, 2012. #
Gabriel Bouys/AFP/Getty Images -
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Read moreA large flock of starlings fly near Bacau, Romania, on December 10, 2013. Large numbers of starlings populate the vast cereal growing agricultural lands in eastern Romania, feeding on the seeds already laid in the ground. #
AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda -
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Read moreA flock of migrating starlings near Tidhar, Israel, on February 11, 2014. #
Menahem Kahana/AFP/Getty Images -
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Read moreA murmuration of migrating starlings near Tidhar, Israel, on February 12, 2014. #
Menahem Kahana/AFP/Getty Images -
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Read moreA flock of starlings fly over a field near Netivot, Israel, on January 24, 2013. #
Reuters/Amir Cohen -
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Read moreA murmuration of starlings above Gretna, Scotland, on November 4, 2011. #
AP Photo/Scott Heppell -
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Read moreStarlings in search of food and warmth flock to a herd of cattle in a feedlot in Mead, Nebraska, on January 18, 2007. #
AP Photo/Nati Harnik -
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