{"id":119046,"date":"2023-12-16T03:53:51","date_gmt":"2023-12-16T10:53:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=119046"},"modified":"2023-12-16T03:55:57","modified_gmt":"2023-12-16T10:55:57","slug":"murmuration-of-european-starlings-on-the-wing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2023\/12\/16\/murmuration-of-european-starlings-on-the-wing\/","title":{"rendered":"Murmuration Of European Starlings On The Wing"},"content":{"rendered":"

I wasn’t the only person who noticed the huge murmuration of European Starlings at my local pond yesterday morning; other people stopped and admired them too.<\/p>\n

\"FlockFlock of European Starlings landing on the edge of a pond \u2013 Nikon D500, tripod mounted, f8, 1\/1250, ISO 640, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Put quite simply, it would be hard to ignore tens of thousands of the European Starlings in a murmuration. Their movement in the air is graceful and almost hypnotic. How so many of the starlings fly so close together in what appears to be a choreographed sky dance without slamming into each other amazes me.<\/p>\n

As I stood behind my tripod, photographing the murmuration of thousands of starlings, I could hear the ‘whoosh’ of their beating wings and flight calls<\/span><\/a> over the sound of nearby interstate traffic.<\/p>\n

\"MurmurationMurmuration of European Starlings blasting off \u2013 Nikon D500, tripod mounted, f8, 1\/1250, ISO 640, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

While I photographed the starlings, other people came up to ask me about these birds. I found it refreshing that they didn’t hate these introduced starlings; as so many people do, they were simply amazed by seeing them in this kind of mesmerizing flight.<\/p>\n

\"MurmurationMurmuration of European Starlings over an urban pond \u2013 Nikon D500, tripod mounted, f8, 1\/1000, ISO 640, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

There were other birds nearby, but the murmuration of these starlings\u2014lifting off, landing, and taking to the air\u2014could not be ignored. They were spectacular.<\/p>\n

\"LargeLarge flock of European Starlings on the wing \u2013 Nikon D500, tripod mounted, f8, 1\/2500, ISO 640, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

The starlings put on a fantastic show, and I was grateful to be in the right place at the right time with my camera to photograph them.<\/p>\n

I know other people despise, or even hate, these birds; I can’t, I won’t. I see their beauty. Yesterday, I could feel it too as I watched them dance in the sky.<\/p>\n

Life is<\/em> good.<\/p>\n

Mia<\/p>\n

Click here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my European Starling photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I wasn’t the only person who noticed the huge murmuration of European Starlings at my local pond yesterday morning; other people stopped and admired them too.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":119032,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,249,709,26],"tags":[970,7476,9888,14606,7037,251,4620,4052,4247,4122,4944,1637,14605,6384,10698,1984,4891,4018,4815,4739,4262,5428,4076,8018,3996],"class_list":["post-119046","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-european-starlings","category-salt-lake-county-utah","category-utah","tag-autumn","tag-bank","tag-blasting-off","tag-constellation","tag-edge","tag-european-starling","tag-fall","tag-flight","tag-flock","tag-flying","tag-lifting-off","tag-murmuration","tag-murmurations","tag-on-the-wing","tag-park","tag-pond","tag-shore","tag-sky","tag-starling","tag-starlings","tag-sturnus-vulgaris","tag-taking-off","tag-trees","tag-urban","tag-water"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/european-starlings-urban-blasting-off-mia-mcpherson-0021.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-uY6","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":34755,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2016\/01\/09\/a-constellation-of-european-starlings-and-a-bison\/","url_meta":{"origin":119046,"position":0},"title":"A 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Wing","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"December 6, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"The light and clouds looked iffy this morning but Antelope Island didn't disappoint when it came to bison and birds plus some dramatic light.","rel":"","context":"In "American Bison"","block_context":{"text":"American Bison","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/wildlife\/bison\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"American Bison, European Starlings and a stormy sky, Antelope Island State Park, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/american-bison-european-starlings-mia-mcpherson-2450.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/american-bison-european-starlings-mia-mcpherson-2450.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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