Murmurations

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Politics
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Starlings, Shakespeare, Flocks

Individually, most people think of starlings as pesky little birds that destroy crops and dirty car windshields.

They were first introduced into the United States around 1880, by a group of Shakespeare enthusiasts, who wanted to recreate Shakespeare's Garden in Central Park. Needless to say those 60 or so proliferated, much to the chagrin of many wild bird lovers.

 

But these odd iridescent beings actually create one of the most beautiful sights in nature.

 

Murmuration

 

Those amazing flock groupings are called murmurations.

 

The reason they are able to fly in such seemingly magical formation, is because they just follow the seven closest to them.

 

Who are your seven? Let's let Gotham reveal our magnificent murmurations, despite how messy we may be individually...

 

A bird is three things:
Feathers, flight and song,
And feathers are the least of these.
-MARJORIE ALLEN SEIFFERT, "The Shining Bird"

Comments

Fred Klein

It's all about team work and tribalism. Good set up Vik!
Cayce Crown

How do you define tribalism? What does that mean to you?
For me, its all about personal responsibility and kindness.

Submitted by Judy_Mauer on Tue, 01/02/2018 - 23:19

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Judy Mauer

love this - both profound and simple - have seen many a starling "ballet" and it's one of the beauties of nature.
Cayce Crown

Thank you for all your wonderful blogs, here's to another year of interesting thoughtful writing!

Submitted by Erik_Scheibe on Wed, 01/03/2018 - 00:30

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Erik Scheibe

Great blog

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