Community Corner
1,200 Starlings Convene Near Campus During Thanksgiving Weekend
Visiting starlings stop for a few days and demonstrate their ability to fly in formation and in unison, over and near campus buildings
About 1,200 starlings have been visiting the campus part of Hyde Park the past few days. These starlings may live in Canada during the summer, and are in the process of migrating southward for the winter. Some starlings live year-round in warmer climates in the lower portion of the U.S.
There is a certain similarity of this starling-migration to the migration through Hyde Park (earlier this fall) of monarch butterflies. However the starlings are capable and will demonstrate their unparalleled ability to fly as a group of hundreds (or thousands) of birds, in close formation only inches from each other, in circular or elliptical paths ... apparently mostly for the fun of it all.
I wasn't able to capture a highly-detailed image of hundreds of starlings flying in formation, but the images others have captured are stunning.
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The first photo, above, is my photo of starlings resting at the top of trees near 60th and Ingleside. The second photo is of a huge "murmuration" of starlings ... i.e., thousands of starlings flying in formation and making incredible patterns in the sky.
The final two photos are from the Audubon Guide to North American Birds. That site has a great summary of the ("European") Starling: https://www.audubon.org/field-...