Saturday 18 October 2014

Scientists Call On Public To Help Solve Mystery Of Starlings' Aerial Displays

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Do starlings flock together to keep warm, for safety or to share roosting tips? A Society of Biology murmuration survey hopes to find the answer and help stem their decline. Every autumn and winter, thousands of starlings pack close together and swirl across the sky in one of the natural calendar's most dramatic spectacles.

The citizen science survey will ask members of the public to track when murmurations occur, where, what the weather is like, what the temperature is, how long they last and what the birds do at the end of the congregations.

1 comment(s):

Vireya said...

Fascinating. The European starling was imported to Australia and although there are millions of them here, I've never seen or heard of them flocking like this. So whatever makes them do it, it's something that isn't an issue in Australia.