Swirling, shifting, swooping flocks of starlings, called murmurations, are the stars of a viral video taken by two girls from Ireland who canoed across River Shannon in October. These birds show us not only beauty in nature, but they also help explain the science of flock movement.
“Thousands coalesce and form dense spheres, ellipses, columns, and undulating lines, sequentially changing the shape of their flocks within moments.
A reason for this is what some scientists call the “chorus line hypothesis,” meaning that when one bird moves, the others look for cues from their neighbors to see where they should go.
