Magnificent Murmuration: Aerial Acrobats of Rosy Starlings
Photo StoryPublished : May 08, 2024Updated : May 09, 2024
Flocks of rosy starlings gather and coalesce into a humungous shape-shifting cloud of up to a million birds in a phenomenon called “murmuration”
Text by: Ashwin Mohan and Adithi Muralidhar
Photos by: Ashvin Trivedi
Flocks of rosy starlings gather and coalesce into a humungous shape-shifting cloud of up to a million birds in a phenomenon called “murmuration”
As the amber shades of the horizon witness the drowning sun, the cool wind announces the arrival of a chilly night and tells creatures that another busy day is waning. It is in this simple yet beautiful setting that some of us may experience kinship with nature and various life forms. Just as one begins to imbibe this setting, subtle distractions of the avian kingdom —fly-bys of pairs of small passerine songbirds, mynas, egrets, falcons, or rosy starling flocks — are inevitable.
Often, during this time of day, flocks of rosy starlings (Pastor roseus) have been known to gradually gather and coalesce into a humungous shape-shifting cloud of up to a million birds, in a phenomenon called “murmuration”. This super-flock that breaks up, rejoins, and exhibits rapid bursts of highly coordinated acrobatics is a testament to the collective intelligence of the involved rosy starlings. Those who have been lucky enough to witness this truly grand spectacle of aerial prowess claim that it thrills and invokes wonder and humility at the same time.
The rosy starling is a migratory bird found in many parts of peninsular India during winter. These birds are known to travel from their breeding grounds in Central and West Asia and Eastern Europe to spend the winter months in the Indian subcontinent. These omnivorous birds spend their time foraging, feeding, and resting in open country and wooded areas, often very close to large human habitations. Their special ability to orchestrate the wondrous act of murmuration (between December and February) for those precious 15-30 minutes during the last light of the day has made this rather common bird an iconic species in many parts of Gujarat and Central India. It is not that these murmurations cannot be seen elsewhere. Ornithologist Anand Krishnan says, “I believe you have the potential to find them (murmurations) anywhere where substantial numbers of rosy starlings winter”.
With fading daylight, congregations of rosy starlings return from their foraging wanderings to their resting areas for the night, settling on trees, terraces, mobile towers, shop platforms, and other man-made structures. Apart from the constant buzzy warble and chatter they indulge in, these individuals can be seen mixing, crisscrossing, and flying around in smaller flocks, almost as if engaged in settling debates about who gets to sleep where for the night. These loose flocks may contain adults as well as immature birds. The adults are characterised by a combination of well-demarcated pink-brown and blackish regions of plumage, whereas the immature birds wear plumage of brownish shades.
Some of the agile smaller flocks move surprisingly quickly, requiring a great level of synchronisation among individual birds. With more and more birds arriving, such flocks tend to merge and grow larger and larger in size. The blurred outline of the flock flattens and dilates with such great elegance and speed that it seems to belie the concept of individual decision-making and response. Moments like these, viewed in the backdrop of the Lakhota Palace, an 18th-century cultural heritage site in Jamnagar, Gujarat, transport the mind back to times when the masses would have been observing this timeless spectacle with the same fervour as today. Ahmedabad, Junagadh, and Porbandar are other places in Gujarat where large numbers of rosy starlings engage in similar acts. Interestingly, birder Ashvin Trivedi, who has been documenting murmurations for over 15 years in Jamnagar, says, “At Lakhota, rosy starlings have been observed to engage in murmuration even at dawn, just after they wake up and prepare to disperse for the day”.
As tens of thousands of rosy starlings orchestrate this aerial symphony of murmuration, the super flock tends to take various fleeting forms and structures that often resemble goliath birds or animals. Ecologist Anne E. Goodenough and her colleagues, in their paper titled “Birds of a Feather Flock Together: Insights into Starling Murmuration Behaviour Revealed Using Citizen Science”, suggest that murmuration in starlings is primarily a collective defence mechanism against predation. Firstly, the sheer number of birds reduces the probability of an individual becoming the target of an avian predator like the Peregrine falcon (Falco peregrinus). More importantly, the rapid, synergetic changes in the speed and direction of their flight have a deleterious effect on typical hunting tactics, making it difficult for a predator to single out one bird to chase and kill. Finally, the superior awareness of the multi-eyed flock, coupled with the ability of the threat response to propagate almost instantaneously within the flock, seems to significantly strengthen the survival chances of each bird.
Despite this complex defensive ballet, accounts of a predator successfully nabbing an individual from the periphery of this grand cloud are not unheard of. Also, other bird species sometimes find themselves amidst this murmuration, and their confusion is evident from the sudden change in their flight patterns. The entire exercise might seem highly energy-intensive for the participants, as they need to sustain such highly coordinated movements. But researchers like ornithologist Ballerini and colleagues suggest that for a large starling flock to take split-second group decisions, a single individual needs to keep track of just six or seven of its neighbours’ movements! Ornithologist Anand Krishnan states, “Such rapid and complex flock movements, or ‘swarming’, also emerge in schools of fish, and other bird families like swallows, shorebirds, or red-billed queleas. The term murmuration appears to be specific to starlings, but not the phenomenon”. The murmuration cloud sometimes reaches a great height and quickly ceases to exist as all the birds disperse to settle down at their roosting locations for the night.
The phenomenon of murmuration is popularly seen from towns like Jamnagar and even in cities like Ahmedabad, where the display often occurs right outside the railway station. Such large collections of birds in tight spaces have also caused some people to consider them a menace owing to loads of excrement soiling private property. Despite this, citizens generally consider these rosy starlings as temporary guests who entertain and enthral. Although the rosy starling is of “Least Concern” on the IUCN Red List, Trivedi reports a significant decrement in their numbers over the last decade.
Murmurations are still not completely understood, but they never cease to leave us awestruck. Birdwatchers of India keep their eyes and ears open — you never know when an army of rosy starlings will put up a dance show for you.
With inputs from Ashvin Trivedi and Dr Anand Krishnan
About the contributors
Ashwin Mohan
is a teacher and researcher of science, and enjoys marvelling at birds with a wish to get to know them better with each encounter.
Adithi Muralidhar
works in the area of education and has a keen interest in the dynamics of society and environment. She blogs on www.earthlynotes.com and has recently discovered Instagram! (@theearthlynotes).
Ashvin Trivedi
has been an avid birdwatcher and wildlife photographer for well over 20 years. He loves capturing natural wonders and sharing them with others to spread awareness.
