r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/zzill6 • 17h ago
Video A murmuration of starlings above Sardinia, Italy.
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u/SoulShine_710 17h ago
Drones ain't got shit on mother nature
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u/iwastherefordisco 17h ago
🤝 well said
It's amazing we don't see more collisions, or rebels who become strays from the main ever-shifting pattern.
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u/mandileigh 4h ago
This Smarter Everyday video is really fascinating and explains why they don’t collide.
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u/VinceValenceNTBTS 17h ago
I once took care of a starling that had been injured as a chick. Super smart birds, really cool oil slick feathers, can mimic. They are an invasive species where I live so animal control refused to take it and said they would euthanize if surrendered. So my gf at the time and I raised it using catfood kibble mushed up into water and fed through a syringe to feed em.
Lived a couple of years but ultimately got very sick and eventually couldn’t fly anymore without flying into things. Miss the little guy. At his peak he would fly around the entire apartment with ease and speed, chirping in happiness and landing on your shoulder. I wish there was more we could have done.
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u/HAWKWIND666 7h ago
Without you the bird would have died and you gave em a wonderful glimpse at life if even just for a moment. You did good. I’m sorry for your loss ✌🏼
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u/Glum_Opening_2218 17h ago
I am so upset my ancestors ruined the environment before me
I wish I could see passenger pigeons blot out the sun and murmur like this.
I wish I could see Carolina parrots, I wish even just the number of birds alive were as high as it once was.
Such a shame, but thank fuck nature rebounds fast as fuck when given the chance. May we save every bird from now on 🙏
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u/Away-Activity-469 17h ago
Whats the plural of a murmuration of starlings?
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u/ajd6c8 17h ago
"I am in a room at the top of the Palazzo Venezia, an enormous palace right in the middle of Rome. Thousands of starlings are returning here from Europe for the winter... They fly in a massive, shifting cloud that twists like a black silk scarf in the wind. The noise of their wings is a heavy rushing sound, a great sighing in the evening air.I think of you, Clarice, and the vast, noisy flock that surrounds you. The small minds, the petty birds who seek to tear at your plumage because your flight is higher than theirs."
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u/code_monkey_001 17h ago
Nessun Dorma with this magnificent display? Pump that shit straight into my veins.
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u/shnooqichoons 16h ago
The way that one blob of birds tries to reintegrate itself but can't quite manage to. I'd love to know whether birds enjoy doing this, does it feel pleasurable to them?
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u/Luci-Noir 14h ago
It really wouldn’t surprise me if they did since animals typically get pleasure from following their instincts or whatever.
I wonder if there’s a way to tell. 🤔
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u/bunkersix 9h ago
It’s crazy and sad that I used to see this from my window in Thornton Heath south London when I was a kid. You very rarely see or hear any birds there any more.
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u/tanglekelp 7h ago
Same here in the Netherlands :( I still see small murmuratiojs when I visit my parents in the countryside but never anything like this again
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u/usuallysortadrunk 17h ago
Like a really confusing game of follow the leader
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u/Over_Ad8762 9h ago
This is pretty much right. I’m pretty sure I heard something like the birds fly pointing in the same direction and a somewhat equal distance from eachother. Then when one bird changes direction it creates this ripple effect.
And also I just fact checked this. So yes. That’s how it works
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u/Vicissitutde 17h ago
I feel like this is a larger demonstration of something we don't yet fully understand
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u/GoatCovfefe 14h ago
Its not... We understand this.
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u/Vicissitutde 13h ago
Sorry. Got high and started thinking of chaos theory and iterations, like patterns that repeat.
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u/inaddition 4h ago
When considering god(s) uses the natural to communicate, this starling performance becomes all the more profound.
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u/LensGator 17h ago
Nature is amazing. We as humans evolved to make such music and pair this with such amazing animals. It makes me.wonder how.many other worlds are out there with things we couldn't possible imagine.
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u/BoobAbides 12h ago
Am I high or does that resemble some of the animation from Pink Floyd The Wall? Or both?
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u/Barbicels 12h ago
They seem confused to find that the residents are Sardinians and not sardines as expected.
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u/False_Temperature_68 11h ago
This is what I grew up with in the United States during the '80s. I don't see anything like this anymore
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u/dardar7161 8h ago
I saw them once in Rome and it literally looked like an interdimensional shape shifting monster over the city.
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u/No_Huckleberry_642 8h ago
In ancient Roman times, people looked up to murmuration for omens from the Gods. I can see why our ancestors would arrive to such beliefs.
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u/Dangerous_Prize_8480 7h ago
How do all the other people not even look up? 😅
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u/D-Eliryo 6h ago
It's such a normal thing here in italy. And there is much ignorance anyway. No one cares about animals in most of the country. Especially south italy.
Source: I'm from south italy and moved a bit more on the north because of that ignorance. Can't afford to go abroad
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u/Nysus_AP1 6h ago
Used to have km-spanning murmurations in Rome, but with the climate crisis they stopped coming... some days the sky over my house would go black from the birds covering sunlight
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u/Financial_Ad_1551 5h ago
Gotta pack an umbrella with you just in case you find yourself under one of these.
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u/michaelp2453 4h ago
I witnessed a murmuration in 1983 in the Morristown area of New Jersey. I was mesmerized- it seemed to last a long time- but it was really about 10 minutes.
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u/DonPandino 3h ago
Yeah i saw it somewhere around march i guess. That was wierd, and also it wasnt only one day, but for a week maybe.
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u/HeartOn_SoulAceUp 17h ago
Murmur my heart in a good way.
They, European Starlings, can also reproduce sounds like, if not better than parrots. Human voices, various sounds.
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u/NYCtoCHI 17h ago
They also, unfortunately, can be quite aggressive and literally evict native cavity nesting species like bluebirds and woodpeckers from their native habitats - they'll take over existing active nests for themselves, destroy eggs, and kill chicks.
They're also big feeders on high value fruit and grain crops - and produce lots of messy, virulent waste that's expensive to clean up and decontaminate after.
Highly intelligent, adaptable, and talented birds with lovely plumage and flight patterns...but also an increasingly invasive and damaging species around the world too, sadly. 😬🙄😕
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u/Luci-Noir 14h ago
I wonder if these were the ones my grandpa would shoot. On their farm they had birdhouses that were on poles two stories high for the native birds who were beneficial and these little shits would try and kick them out.
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u/Khusman 7h ago
Isn't AI wonderful...
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u/Jolly_Cantaloupe_187 7h ago
You guys see AI everywhere. How can you tell it's AI?
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u/Khusman 7h ago
The proportions, details and formations look very off.
Here's a genuine video. Compare the two and decide for yourself.
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/article/starling-murmuration-swarm-video
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u/Common-Accountant-57 17h ago
That’s a pretty amazing bird situation.