Starlings Spectacular Display - trippy birds

[Kanada Kev]

Thousands of starlings engage in aerial acrobatics, an annual autumn display in Scotland in the UK.

Swooping and soaring across the late autumn sky, they invite the imagination to take flight with them.

For a few magical moments black, billowing clouds of starlings are transformed into images of a penguin, cartoon characters, a shoe and even Mick Jagger's notorious pout (You can find these pictures after the jump).

They swoop through the sky like one fluid organism - a bit like a sheet blowing in the wind, swirling and swaying and folding back on itself.

Once airborne, they'll glide along for up to an hour, until suddenly, the leader will spy a good spot for the night and swoop down, like an huge cloud of smoke being vacuumed back into a chimney.

Edited November 13, 2007 by Guest

[SteveThe Owl]

Are you sure they're not chimney swifts?

[steponmebbbboom]

http://www7.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0707/feature5/

[bradm]

Are you sure they're not chimney swifts?

You're saying they might be a chimney swift band?

Aloha,

Brad