Flight of the Starlings: Watch This Eerie but Beautiful Phenomenon | Short Film Showcase
Ойын-сауық
We know a lot of factual information about the starling-its size and voice, where it lives, how it breeds and migrates-but what remains a mystery is how it flies in murmurations, or flocks, without colliding. This short film by Jan van IJken was shot in the Netherlands, and it captures the birds gathering at dusk, just about to start their "performance." Listen well and you'll be able to hear how this beautiful phenomenon got its name.
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The Short Film Showcase spotlights exceptional short videos created by filmmakers from around the web and selected by National Geographic editors. We look for work that affirms National Geographic's belief in the power of science, exploration, and storytelling to change the world. The filmmakers created the content presented, and the opinions expressed are their own, not those of National Geographic Partners.
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A film by Jan van IJken / www.janvanijken.com
Watch the full-length video here: vimeo.com/ondemand/130410
Flight of the Starlings: Watch This Eerie but Beautiful Phenomenon | Short Film Showcase
• Flight of the Starling...
National Geographic
/ natgeo
Пікірлер: 1 100
Thank you for NOT adding music
@franl155
5 жыл бұрын
second that! this would have been SO improved by adding jingle-jangle soundtrack ...
@gayhomelesswithpinknails4424
4 жыл бұрын
Exactly, many videos of nature not just in KZread, have music
@blackman811
4 жыл бұрын
It already had music ;)
@aaronqua6060
4 жыл бұрын
I fourth that
@thektotos.6173
4 жыл бұрын
Скворцы летят на родину, скворцы. Летят, летят...
I was in a busy airport car park once and an enormous Murmuration like this was happening about 200 yards away. Someone yelled "Look at that" and the entire car park just stopped in silence as everyone noticed it, cars stopped, everybody just stopped. Feeling the collective wonder pass through this crowd of hot and bothered, stressed out people getting off flights made me appreciate the power that nature has to inspire wonder in us, regardless of any modern day context that removes us from it.
@rockolutheran
3 жыл бұрын
Beautiful comment
@dylusional6593
3 жыл бұрын
Dude this comment was cooler than the video 🐐
@MrEasye6996
3 жыл бұрын
This was beautiful. Our roots are planted within nature. We come from the sea and sky and unfortunately we have lost touch with nature. It's amazing that you got to exporence true wonder and mass fascination.
@Paidbigjuice
3 жыл бұрын
So glad I saw this comment
@MrEasye6996
3 жыл бұрын
@@ummarooba4066 God is everything. But God does not live for validation. God does not care if you thank them. They only care about glory of nature and time.
The way they disappear at the end, like a phantom spirit, leaving everything else motionless ...
@Molybdaenmornell
4 жыл бұрын
@Angel Santos Thank you!
@williamgustavk2184
3 жыл бұрын
god is a myth wake up...
@mikerotch6733
3 жыл бұрын
@@williamgustavk2184 I find it funny how the bible doesnt even MENTION dinosaurs yet they definitely would have been around at that time
@weshouldsaveourselves6780
3 жыл бұрын
@@williamgustavk2184 why do you say that?
@williamgustavk2184
3 жыл бұрын
@@mikerotch6733 you read fantasy books?
How they synchronize themselves is amazing.
@Persona_Incognito
2 жыл бұрын
Are we really that different? One could almost see the to's and fro's of the financial markets in this behavior (or more generally of economies, cultures or even entire ecosystems over longer spans of time)! Distributed cognition in action, all with NO central planning / direction required! Apparently Smith's "Invisible Hand" reigns supreme at many levels all throughout nature.
@robertarmstrong5015
Жыл бұрын
@@Persona_Incognito I don't know if I agree with Smith 100% but you make a good and interesting point
@alexdebate7081
Жыл бұрын
@@Persona_Incognito This behavior is called "emergence" and it's what happens when any number of systems interact with each other dynamically! New, complex behaviors form, and the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.
@eugeniekolsteyn1036
7 ай бұрын
Our Lord really works on a mysterious way.
Sounds like ocean waves....really so stunning.❤
@norasworld1410
2 жыл бұрын
It's a bird tsunami
This is one of the most beautiful things I have ever witnessed. A few years ago I worked at at this place out by some fields. Sometimes where I would park for lunch a much smaller flock of these birds would come and dance in the sky like this while I was eating. It was probably about a hundred to two hundred birds. It was a magnificent sight. 🤩 Then one day, a month or so after I stopped working there I was sitting in my chair and I heard quite a racket outside. I was like, what the heck is that?! So I went outside and there were 100 to 200 starlings in all the trees surrounding my building, just a chattering away... It was LOUD. Very very LOUD. 😳 😂 Flitting from one tree to another. This lasted about 15 minutes or so, and then one of them took off to the south, and the rest followed. Which also was an amazing sight. 🤩 They have visited more than a few times. I haven't seen them since early spring this year. It seems they stop in to say hello in the spring and fall. So hope to see them again this year. But things change, so there is just no telling. 🤷♀️
Absolutely stunning...the only such film to capture the eerie beauty of the sound of the birds without adding a mindless soundtrack.
It's like a super organism that expresses its full life force in a spectacular dance. Utterly fascinating.
It sounds like waves crashing in the sand. Very relaxing and magical. It must be an amazing feeling to be witness of that.
@zahidapiracha4309
Жыл бұрын
Yes indeed
Spectacular video, especially the ending. The murmurations are breathtaking while the birds are in flight. Another aspect that's remarkable is when the group decides to land. I watched a murmuration a few winters ago. I could only guess how many birds were involved - thousands, no doubt, but how many thousands I really couldn't say. When they landed on a field they literally turned the field black. There seemed to be not a spare inch of space.
@at_brunch3852
2 жыл бұрын
Thank you for sharing!!
I was lying in my bedroom and a large wind sound woke me up and I was like wow it's some strong winds outside today ..then I was like that's unusually strong..and when I look out the window I saw the school of birds swarming together and designs and shapes in flocking around my house in my backyard it had to been 5,000 birds and just a chirping in the wind from their feathers together it was beautiful I watched them until they were gone
This happens in my front yard literally every evening. Great show.
@deasfenderson6154
4 жыл бұрын
Bemabond me too !!! It’s like all the birds meet up for play time 😆
@mrpink3998
4 жыл бұрын
Are they purple starlings?
@Jetguy1234
4 жыл бұрын
Where are you from? I’m trying to see this one day!
@dakshitamishra1993
4 жыл бұрын
@@Jetguy1234 me too!
@dakshitamishra1993
4 жыл бұрын
@@Grateful2Exist do you live in the US? Cause i live on the west coast too
Starlings are amazing and their "Murmurations" is still a mystery on why they do it. Their recreations reveal that starlings maintain their fluid formations via a mechanism known as scale-free behavioral correlation, in which each bird positions itself next to approximately seven other birds, coordinating its movements to create an overlapping synchronicity. Although each bird is interacting with its nearby neighbors, every bird’s movements affects and are affected by the entire group, allowing information to travel across the flock at a constant speed. The result is collective decision-making so agile that a signal to turn, usually initiated by a bird on the outskirts, can flash through a flock of 400 birds in half a second-a speed of 90 miles per hour.
@SheenaRea
Жыл бұрын
So amazing!!
@christianj252
Жыл бұрын
Their behavior seems similar to how sardines swim in huge packs, to defend against predators?
@ddavies1967
Жыл бұрын
Thank you
@kojoano
Жыл бұрын
Guillermo del toro cabinet of curiosities
@annacroixx
Жыл бұрын
@@kojoano Great episode
"This is another reminder that the universe has already written the poem that you were planning on writing"
@TheINFJChannel
2 жыл бұрын
This quote gave me goosebumps ❤
@slightlydistressedslug6627
2 жыл бұрын
😯
@bojackhorsingaround
2 жыл бұрын
or not.. determinism is one of the many possibilities of an outcome until it does. Requires some interference, which is utterly random.
@dibyeshmishra2234
2 жыл бұрын
🙏
Stunning , they sound like the sea x
@bittasweetsymphony726
7 жыл бұрын
they sound like zulu
@leszekpolczyk3432
5 жыл бұрын
I saw that once we were ancoring on Mauritius. First i suspected just strange clouds. It was unbilivable.
@Krissy_Bunnie
5 жыл бұрын
Not when they wake you up at 6 in the morning. Then they sound like a chainsaw trying to cold start 😅
@erzsebetborodi1222
4 жыл бұрын
Its not by chance that this phenomena is called murmuration... derived from the verb "to murmur", and the sea is murmuring too... it is amazing... i experienced it only once, a few years ago, and first i thought it might be something "extraterritorial" :)
@Demitchii
3 жыл бұрын
They doooo!!! 🌊
well that field is definitely fertilized for this year
@cocknball410
4 жыл бұрын
Yep
@atomicnectar
3 жыл бұрын
Lmfao
@251melabelle
3 жыл бұрын
Get your head out of the clouds kinda guy, huh?
@biplabkantidas3112
3 жыл бұрын
@@cocknball410 m
@mkodyChallengesYOurexistence
2 жыл бұрын
@@beeee777 lol sarcasm at its finest above your comment Laugh it off 🤣 😂 😆
I want to live forever because life always brings me something I never seen before.
@kentwilbourne996
Жыл бұрын
You really want to live forever? Ok, here is your chance to choose that for yourself! God's Salvation Plan : How Permanent Is Your Salvation?- by Hank Lindstrom, on KZread. John 3:16, Ephesians 2:8-10:o) Kent Wilbourne, Ogden, Utah, 2/7/23.
I didn't realise there was a sound they made. They sound like the ocean.
This happens in Denmark (SW Jutland) every year as well, the starlings gather in the hundreds of thousands or even millions in the Wadden Sea area before starting their migrations north/south (They do it both in the spring and fall). While they're here eating for a while they'll do those "dances" that we call "sort sol" (Black sun) which attracts a lot of people since it's so cool/strange. :)
I was once walking along the Tiber River in Rome when a murmuration began overhead while a street musician happened to be playing "Fields of Gold" nearby. Needless to say just about everyone stopped what they were doing and looked up. One of those perfect moments of serendipity and harmony. It was the most relaxing experience I have ever had.
That was cool AF!
@thehwatcha733
5 жыл бұрын
yowwww
@k8yrt
5 жыл бұрын
How did I find you here
@YasinHasan
4 жыл бұрын
language Jesus!
@duhkimapachuau270
4 жыл бұрын
Impossible 😁😂🤣
@joseph_daniels
4 жыл бұрын
Bitrate wasn't tho
I’ve seen loads of murmuration videos before, but this is the first (and only) one I’ve seen with the addition of the natural sound they make….. absolutely incredible! Thank you for keeping it stunningly simple.
This is truly amazing to me. Life is better moving together as one. I think we all could learn a lot from these birds.
@elizabethklein7073
2 жыл бұрын
Yep, we are alot like starlings. Aggressive and destroying other species. Have you ever wondered why there are so many starlings in flocks at a time when so many birds are on a downward trend?
A beautiful example of an organized chaos.
@wandaalexander1972
3 жыл бұрын
Its not chaos
@blazzinga595
3 жыл бұрын
Oxymoron .
@santiagoferrari1973
3 жыл бұрын
@Abdelilah what about nuclear bombs? Power of god too right? Or maybe the devil, and who made him? Hypocrite
@tjn1017
3 жыл бұрын
yes I can inly imagine the number of collisions
@MarcCastellsBallesta
3 жыл бұрын
@@tjn1017 zero
I have watched this video several times. It's my favorite murmuration video. I love the way the sound builds and recedes.
Unbelievably Gorgeous. Just thinking of the primal nature, the physics and coordination of it blows my mind.
“...the only simplicity to be trusted is the simplicity to be found on the far side of complexity.” ― Alfred North Whitehead (1861-1947)
You know what would be really interesting, and something I have never seen? Filming this phenomenon in super slow motion. Up close if possible.
@UnathleticProductions
5 жыл бұрын
I want someone to attach a GoPro to one of these bad boys
@juniperecheveria6622
4 жыл бұрын
You can adjust the playback speed of the video down to .25x if you want to watch it slower!
@slappedonhook
4 жыл бұрын
@@juniperecheveria6622 nah. bad frames. he meant slow motion in very high fps! it would be amazing
@blackletter2591
3 жыл бұрын
THIS is really interesting, mate. Make something better if you can.
@theeggtimertictic1136
3 жыл бұрын
That's what I was thinking. Just to see who moves first and his they react with each other. I'm sure someone has done it. I heard that how they don't bump into each other is because they perceive time differently to us because of their rapid heartbeat. This is just like walking in a crowd to them. I think it's a good theory .
Wonderful! I have seen only relatively small murmurations in person, though I have seen some lovely videos. Most of the latter have either been filmed from a distance or been overlaid with dramatic orchestral music. While that might have enhanced the beauty in a way, I find I much prefer the thunder of wings and chatter of the birds! Awesome in the best meaning of the word!😮🥰
I saw a swarm of starlings years ago from my window. It was early morning, the sun had been up for about and hour. Considering I lived in Bronx, New York it was very strange.
@ramonpineda7514
4 жыл бұрын
From The Bronx here and have yet to see something like this. I'm sure a great spot to see something like this would be Van Cortland Park.
Wow! So beautiful...and the roaring sound of all those thousands of wings flying up above!! To be where that photographer stood to take that stunning video...blessed! 😍💖🕊
The flock navigates as a single organism. How cool!
I would love to see this in real life one day.
@admiradea3428
7 жыл бұрын
leon bushnell don't like it I love it.
@admiradea3428
7 жыл бұрын
leon bushnell lolol
@Zoza15
7 жыл бұрын
I've seen this shit many times in the Netherlands.
@mathawng
6 жыл бұрын
It happened last week in UK. Several people upload a video on internet And say, It is UFO .....lol
@mathawng
6 жыл бұрын
If i see like this video in real life... I may shit myself
Can we get a couple hours of an extended version of this. I was falling asleep from the beautiful sounds😂
BEAUTIFUL sky painting... I saw birds do this once, in Eugene, OR, some years back. Thought they were rehearsing for a flight south. Now I don't see such huge flocks, haven't for quite a while...
I just showed this to my 6 year old son. He was amazed. Thank you for sharing this so we could see and hear this phenomenon!
This is breathtakingly beautifull! I have seen the real thing many times but never so gigantic as this performance.
This made me cry so hard and I don’t know why.
Breathtaking, a real art form. The patience the videographer must have had to wait and film this.
Wow!! Sounds so peaceful. How do they do synchronize like that. Just beautiful
How do they not smash into one another? This is soo beautiful!
@redegeldunit420
7 жыл бұрын
There would be a few dead ones laying around I bet
@9999garv
7 жыл бұрын
redegeldunit420 no they don't collide.. read the description box
@Sajidjadoon24
5 жыл бұрын
@uncletigger Thank you
@deathbydeviceable
5 жыл бұрын
@uncletigger science failed you...religion failed the others. If you can't see what's actually going on I'm not gonna explain it. We were misguided as a whole
@deathbydeviceable
5 жыл бұрын
@uncletigger your fact is only supported by a community that rejects. You wrote a whole lotta nonsense for nothing. I bet you love to stroke that little ego of yours
I am always in awe of the power of the natural world!
Omg, I’ve been hearing them around my workplace. I live in Mentor, Ohio, an eastern suburb of Cleveland. I’ve lived here most of my life and have never heard crows like what I have heard within the last 3 weeks. The weather has been -16 to 68 and I wonder if the weather is confusing them. We are a big suburb having the Metroparks, suburban life and the in between.
I love watching these murmurations!!
What a beautiful show of Mother Nature.
@pedrovidal1293
7 жыл бұрын
It kind of sounds like ocean waves.
@wemalnishimura9305
7 жыл бұрын
+Popcorn Keyboard Yeah. I guess it's all the wings flapping
@Epicjaack
6 жыл бұрын
We are also nature itself technically .
@djpaulywood
6 жыл бұрын
air lava water - crazy how it all sound the same :)
@user-dd9he2br4r
5 жыл бұрын
Toonami30 (أَوَلَمْ يَرَوْا إِلَى الطَّيْرِ فَوْقَهُمْ صَافَّاتٍ وَيَقْبِضْنَ ۚ مَا يُمْسِكُهُنَّ إِلَّا الرَّحْمَٰنُ ۚ إِنَّهُ بِكُلِّ شَيْءٍ بَصِيرٌ (19). 19. Do they not see the birds above them, spreading their wings and folding them in? None upholds them except the Most Gracious (Allâh. Verily, He is All-Seer of everything.
When they fly overhead, it sounds like rain. It probably feels like rain too.
@Concetta20
3 жыл бұрын
😂😂😂😂😂
Saw Starlings fly like this at dusk at Lipson Cove Conservation Park on the east cost of the Eyre Peninsula in South Australia. Took several videos - not as clear as this one but bloody awesome to see this occurrence on two seperate nights. When they arrived one night there was no wind and the flocks didn’t join up and just flew straight to the island where they landed for the night.
I must be one of the lucky ones. My apartment overlooks woodland and fields. Between October and November I can sit on my balcony and watch a different show every evening.
The sounds they make are amazing!
This is hauntingly beautiful, thank you!
Not sure what is more impressive the visuals or the sounds, wow. Great recording and of course fantastic landscapes.
And that sound...! Well recorded - the landscape shots show what it's all about, close-ups are nice but it's the big picture that's really fascinating.
Its like the waves of the ocean
@SSArt98
7 жыл бұрын
or fish in the Sea. _Murmurations_ Seen a good video from Israel years ago. _But this video, it's amazing!_
@vyperspit
7 жыл бұрын
Wow that's what I was thinking too.
@bittasweetsymphony726
7 жыл бұрын
no
imagine a tiny gopro positioned on one of their heads lol
@wangoito6789
4 жыл бұрын
lol
@PhilJonesIII
3 жыл бұрын
That would be great if you could ever get your camera back.
I just listened to a podcast about this new yet old theory called Complexity theory and this is a model of it. It only take 7 starlings to change the flow of the entire flock.!
Starlings are amazing and intelligent birds that often mimic other birds, I've seen youtube videos of them taking. Wish they would get the respect they deserve.
Absolutely amazing flight of these huge numbers of birds, capable of changing formations like a computer programmed drill. This is incredible show of nature at it's best. 👌👌👍👍
this is such a blessing for the eyes
I live in the UK & when you see this over Eastbourne Pier it is the most amazing spectacle you will ever see!
Pooped on? It'd be well worth the wash-up, to see such wonder and beauty in person! At least we humans still have SOMEthing in common -- the appreciation of such INCREDIBLE syncronicity of life, and the beauty it creates. THANK YOU for sharing it with your fellow beings!
It's totally amazing how a murmuration of starlings often appears to be one large starling, moving and flying through the air. Has anyone else noticed this?
My girlfriend and I went for a trip to Gettysburg PA. On the drive there, we stopped at a Dairy Queen. While at the Dairy Queen, we looked up in the sky and saw starlings flying like in the video. It was a strange, but fascinating sight to see. We watched for about 20 minutes before continuing on our journey.
There's so many you can hear the roar of their wings collectively beating as they wave across the sky!
I watched them once 😮 it was mesmerizing ❤
They do this whenever a predator is attacking to confuse them and evade their attacks, it's so cool how much effort every starling puts in just to save one!
@at_brunch3852
2 жыл бұрын
Amazing lesson for humans as well. (wow) ♥️
Wow, that was mesmerizing! The power of nature.
@pkvbr5842
Жыл бұрын
The power of God.
I remember seeing one of these when I was just out delivering newspapers in my hometown. I just stared into the sky in awe.
They probably do it to socialize, excercise, have fun, show other birds who is boss in the area.
{فَتَبَارَكَ اللَّهُ أَحْسَنُ الْخَالِقِينَ}[المؤمنون:14]
@FixedFace
4 жыл бұрын
yes, m0hamm3d was 54 when he consummated the marriage with 6 year old a¡sha. what does this have to do with birds?
@andalusiaverroes365
4 жыл бұрын
@@FixedFace so are you asking or insulting?
It's like there's something that's controlling them... Nature is mysterious. They just sync and fly in each direction together. So amazing.
Absolutely stunning. My son watches the starlings when we are out and see them. He made his own video on this channel if anyone wants too see AlfieExperience.
To which is added the lovely sound of all those wings flapping. An amazing phenomenon. The quelea, in Africa, is also known for this kind of behavior.
So beautiful! I see that there are 101 dislikes for this, really??? 😂 must be tough to be so miserable ay
it's not eerie at all. looks amazing and would make a great screensaver
This has always fascinated me with Starlings. Beautiful film!
@jennyrossman4614
3 жыл бұрын
Greetings Barbara, how are you.?
absolutely divine, nature at her very best thank you Jan what a wonderful beautiful sight to see and hear
@davidmayberry3190
3 жыл бұрын
It's nature at its worst, starlings are a scourge on the world, they're a locust swarm ruining everything in their path.
Nature is beautiful beyond words 😍
I saw one biggest migration of birds when i was a child i still remember it n tell kids about that it was the most beautiful experience
A natural phenomenon that can’t truly be explained but is beautiful nonetheless.
at 1:20 a bird of prey picks off a starling at center/bottom of frame
@mcriser
7 жыл бұрын
When you see that always look for the predator, that formation flying is a defensive act to confuse hawks..
@user-to6qo4gb2y
7 жыл бұрын
Matt Riser
@frooshante
6 жыл бұрын
good eye!
@lanciferian
5 жыл бұрын
Nice catch, you've got an... eagle eye
@franl155
5 жыл бұрын
@@mcriser - same defence tactic as a shoal of fish when there's a shark about …
After watching the "Smarter every day" Boids algorithm application on birds, KZread recommended this video. Never clicked so fast.. This was amazing and mesmerizing.. =D
Amazing the cooperation or teamwork (or whatever you want to call it) to avoid predators.
What a lively piece of cinematography.
just beautiful
This video reminds me of M.C. Escher' Birds tessellations.
Beautiful. I just love birds. Freedom and beauty right there
Finally something Beautiful on KZread
I live in a National forest and once when the trees around me were so full of Starling that when I fired a shot off all the birds took flight, I could actually feel the wind from their wings when they took flight. It was awesome.
So sick
Nature is so beautiful if we stop and watch it for awhile.
2 words: intelligent design
Wow. Just. One. Word. Wow.
yes, thanks so much for sharing and thank God you had the sense to let nature tell the story without drums, etc.
Absolutely awe-inspiring!
Absolutely love these flock displays, it's so ethereal
Idk why this is so terrifying to me. If I saw this irl I'd be ducking for cover. It's cool to see from the safety of my phone screen though
@OfficialSilverMoon
4 жыл бұрын
Same
@startreedancer1412
2 жыл бұрын
perhaps terrifying because you have forgotten that you are nature herself, and nature is magic.
beautiful
AWESOME!!!!!! Love this. Thanks for sharing.
Breath taking!!! Yes they sound like the ocean alright-absolutely stunning, wish I had a repeat button!! I did watch it again, whilst listening to The Cinematic Orchestra and their fabulous 'Arrival Of The Birds & Transformation'. Something else too!!!! (enjoy if you follow my tip)
I suddenly have the urge to listen to Wilco's "Sky Blue Sky."
@jennyrossman4614
3 жыл бұрын
Greetings Angel, how are you.