A Murmuration of Starlings . . .

 I'm going to take you with me on my walk this morning.  I was lucky enough to experience a natural phenomenon that not that many people get to be in the middle of.  Sorry about that poor excuse for a sentence  :-D  

My walk started out like many others.  It was cloudy this morning, with rain on the way.  The fall colors are at their peak here, but already the leaves have begun to fall.  Here's my front yard:

And here is the beginning of the path around the retention pond where I walk most days. This is at the Southeast corner of the pond.

I think our fall color peaked this past weekend.  But even on a gloomy morning, the Sumacs were still beautiful along the path.

At the west end of the main retention pond, there is a section of protected wetland that is relatively heavily wooded with a stream running through it that empties into the main retention pond.  The woods run from the west end of the main pond all the way to a major north/south street.  As I came up toward the street on the north side of the wetland, I saw and heard way more birds than usual.  I wondered about it, but kept on going, up to the street, turning south, and then turning east back on to the path to head back toward the main retention pond.  

 I came around for my second lap, and the bird chatter had increased and I noticed more birds. 

I came around to the street and turned again to catch the path back toward the main retention pond.  To the right of the path at this point is the south side-pond, which has a small spillway leading to the middle side-pond.  As I turned on to the path, this is the sight that greeted me.

I tried to get a little closer . . .

Oops!  Too close (I know it's blurry - sorry).  The starlings headed back to the trees in the protected wetland, which is to the left in this photo.

 But they came back.  I was able to get a little closer, and then I stopped.  It looked like there were hundreds of them . . .

 But once they took flight again, it became clear that there were thousands. 

Up they went.

Up and around . . .

And around again . . .

And again . . .

And then, they headed right toward me. 

I was, literally, in the midst of a murmuration of starlings! 

They were fast.

As they came closer, they were about 6 feet above me.  For a moment I wondered if I should duck, but the whirring sound of their wings beating all together at the same time was like nothing I have ever heard before and I could not move.  It was awesome - I truly mean awesome.  I have never experienced anything like it before. 

They headed back to the trees.

And while it looked like they would land, they didn't.

Instead they did another round of aerial ballet.

 And then landed and began their chatter once more.

Here is a closer shot.

And one more. 

I waited awhile longer.  The chatter was so loud - until it wasn't.  They stopped.  Completely.  All at the same time.  It was silent for a moment, and then their chatter began again.  I walked on, looking back periodically, but they did not return to the spillway nor take to the air again while I was in a position to see them.  Here's a little more information on murmuration.   

I have been gifted so many times by miracles of nature as I make my way around this pond most days.  This ranks right up there with seeing "my" cormorant earlier this fall.  I've seen one other murmuration - I think I'm lucky to have witnessed this phenomenon more than once!  The first time I saw one was in downtown Chicago, believe it or not - with the birds whirling between City Hall and the Thompson Center.  But they were much higher in the sky.  This morning, these starlings were so very close to me.  No one else was around - I got to experience this amazing moment all on my own.  

I'm glad I was able to capture a few photos to share with you here.  I know they aren't all in focus.  But I encourage you to click to biggify.  

I've figured out why I usually post older music here - it's because so much of today's music is electronic and manipulated in ways that make it too pristine.  Too perfect.  Canned.  Bereft of soul.  And so I try to share real musicians and real singers.  And when you see the Byrds perform live like this and Roger McGuinn and David Crosby still sounding this good (20-odd years ago) - I mean the notes are there.  The harmonies are there.  And to have Bob Dylan waltz out and join the party . . . seriously, you guys.  No one is making music like this today.  These songs, Turn, Turn, Turn (written in 1959 by Pete Seeger) and Mr. Tambourine Man (written in 1965 by Bob Dylan), were both recorded and released by The Byrds in 1965.  

This footage is from 1990, so 25 years later and they still sounded this good.   Enjoy.