See a murmuration

🔄 Repeatable👤 All ages

naturephotography

Watch thousands of starlings move as one organism, creating fluid shapes and patterns across the sky in one of nature's most mesmerizing displays. Best seen at dusk near roosting sites during autumn and winter, these aerial ballets can last for hours and create shapes that shift like living clouds above the landscape.

Difficulty

30/100Medium

💰

Cost

$0 – $100

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Time

1hour

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People

🌳

Setting

outdoor

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Season

fall

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Equipment

None needed

People who tried this

“I was walking on the coast of Washington State admiring the surf and sand, when all of a sudden, a dazzling cloud of hundreds of Sandpipers flew past in a phenomenon that scientists call a murmuration. It is aptly named, because the birds make little sound and their movements are like murmurs…indistinct, and ever changing. Because sandpipers are black on top and white on the bottom, their murmuration was absolutely astounding! They not only created a dazzling, cloud, swirling and pulsating, in a fluid choreography of shapes, but as they twisted and turned, they were at once a mix of black and white.”

positive— Stu Branston · MRB'S Weekly Blogsource ↗

“This is where I first saw the murmuration of starlings. The murmuration didn't happen at a distance but right over top of me and was the most incredible thing I ever saw. It is not a silent event as the birds are extremely loud, with the noise of their wings setting the beat to their song.”

positive— r/interestingasfucksource ↗