Tag Archives: murmuration

Flocking in Some Numbers

I don’t know whether a murmuration is a thing specific to starlings or whether it applies to any large flocks of birds.  I was looking out across San Francisco Bay recently and there was a large flock of birds whirling over the water in the direction of the San Mateo Bridge.  It looked just like a murmuration of starlings I had seen once before but I don’t think these were starlings.  I have no idea what type of bird they were and what they were up to – hunting or something else – but I was transfixed watching them for a while.  A still doesn’t give you much impression of the motion but at least you can see that it was a big flock swirling around.