By: Blonde One
As I was driving home last night I witnessed a fantastic sight of aerial acrobatics, winged pyrotechnics, or whatever metaphor you care to mention! I saw a flock of starlings doing their thing and it was amazing. As I say, I was driving, so watching them for longer bursts than a second or two was difficult. The speed of the traffic definitely slowed as I assume we were all trying to watch this incredible sight. I’ve since learned that this spectacle is called a murmuration which doesn’t seem to fit quite right with what you see. There was nothing murmur-ish about their actions. They were far more of a song, a cheer or an applause. Have a look at an amazing clip http://news.bbc.co.uk/earth/hi/earth_news/newsid_9175000/9175793.stm to see what I mean. How many metaphors can you spot?! Sometimes metaphors are good and add to the description of something beautiful to make it seem even more stunning but I think on this occasion, and with many other natural occurances, no metaphor is necessary. The beauty is there for all to see and words are simply not necessary!
Over the past couple of winters, my parents have had a very large murmurations roosting along the railway embankment at the bottom of their garden – it’s an incredible sight, sometimes building up for over half an hour. If you get the chance to stop and watch, do so. As well as the visual aspect the sound is, well, almost beyond words.
(aerial acrobatics. aerobatics?)
“My parents had very large murmurations” – could be a scary diagnosis from the doctor.
We recovered. The only lasting symptom has been poor syntax…
And the sad thing is, they are fast disappearing. The Starlings, I mean. And even sadder, that double glazing and all the other sound-blotting-out things we have invented means we don’t hear them any more. While my 3 Wood Pigeons were arguing about who owned the bird table. at daybreak the other morning, Mr. Starling sneaked right in between them and stuffed his beak with lovely mealworms.
So, not only are they beautiful in flight, they are sneaky and clever too! I like them even more.