Beautiful avian ballet: Starlings on Otmoor
The starlings are an astonishing thing to
see - Near Oxford - England.
This was filmed at an RSPB reserve called Otmoor. The
music is from CSS Music. The track is "soaring with the sun". Like drivers on a freeway, starlings dont
appear to mind having neighbors nearby on their sides—or above and below, for
that matter—as long as they have open space ahead. That makes sense, since the
presence of a clear path in the direction of travel minimizes the likelihood of
collisions should the birds need to shift their course abruptly, as is likely
when a falcon attacks.
... the researchers have been able to use it to calculate the number of
neighbors to which each starling pays close attention—a quantified elaboration
of Pottss chorus line idea. By looking at correlations between the movements of
neighboring starlings, they can show that each bird always pays attention to
the same number of neighbors, whether theyre closer or farther away. How many
neighbors is that? Six or seven, says Cavagna, who points out that starlings in
flocks can almost always see many more nearby birds— but the number may be
closely tied to birds cognitive ability. The direction of the flock can be
coordinated by each birds tracking six or seven other birds. ..
