A Murmuration of Starlings

[MacCruiskeen]

Words by Heathcote Williams, via Rupert Sheldrake (good to see those minds meet):



It's a wonder how the starlings do it. But also: why do they do it, if not for the sheer joy of it?

[tazmic]

UV

[elfismiles]

One of my faves:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iRNqhi2ka9k

Some great murmuration vids here:

Visualizing Bird “Jizz”
Post by seemslikeadream » 30 Jan 2014 01:59
http://rigorousintuition.ca/board2/view ... =8&t=37685

... and another ...

Re: Scores of starlings fall out of the sky
Post by brainpanhandler » 11 Mar 2010 18:03
http://rigorousintuition.ca/board2/view ... 19#p324519

[minime]

You won't believe this, but Heathcote Williams and the word 'murmur' have come to mind on numerous occasions the past few days. Though not at the same time.

[MacCruiskeen]

It's one my fondest childhood memories, the incredible display (and the incredible noise) every winter at dusk on Glasgow's central square. They used to swoop in in their thousands before roosting in the countless nooks and crannies on the City Chambers cliff-face:



...until the council called in a firm to get rid of them. My old prof wrote a poem about it:

[...]

A man looks up and points

smiling to his son beside him

wide-eyed at the clamour on those cliffs—-

it sinks, shrills out in waves,

levels to a happy murmur,

scatters in swooping arcs,

a stab of confused sweetness

that pierces the boy like a story,

a story more than a song.

He will never forget that evening,

the silhouette of the roofs,

the starlings by the lamps.

[...]

http://dogonaswing.tumblr.com/post/6737 ... rge-square

[MacCruiskeen]

[IanEye]

[norton ash]

Have you ever seen a 'V' of geese flying? One arm of the 'V' is always longer than the other. There is a reason for this.

There are more geese in it.

[Seamus OBlimey]

Just wasted two hours looking for the funniest Hitchcock/Sta'lin' link

[Nordic]

This behavior has always seemed to be evidence of psychic phenomenon in that the birds move all at once. No one leads, so no one is following, so how could this be possible unless the birds shared a mind?

Fish seem to do it, too.

[Ben D]

Nordic...go to 13.10 Coleridge may be more poetic, but Sheldrake is closer to the mark...

[minime]

This behavior has always seemed to be evidence of psychic phenomenon in that the birds move all at once. No one leads, so no one is following, so how could this be possible unless the birds shared a mind?

Fish seem to do it, too.

Have you ever seen a horse (or even a dog) herding cattle? Roping a steer? The response of herder (the horse, not the human) to herded is so immediate, even shown in slow motion, as to give the illusion of singlemindedness. If the connection is psychic, it is in the sense of mind informed by perception.

In the herd, in the flock, in the school, none may be leading by choice or by design, but they are leading in fact and by necessity.

[BrandonD]

This behavior has always seemed to be evidence of psychic phenomenon in that the birds move all at once. No one leads, so no one is following, so how could this be possible unless the birds shared a mind?

Fish seem to do it, too.

Another option is that rather than the minds of the individual birds communicating with one another, the minds of the individual birds are relinquishing control to the currents of an invisible field.

Imagine a thousand ping pong balls on the surface of the ocean, and then make the ocean invisible. I think this would be a good analogy.

(on second consideration, this might just be a rephrasing of what you are already saying)

[Ben D]

* One fish says to the other fish...."where's this ocean everyone is talking about?"

[Nordic]

This behavior has always seemed to be evidence of psychic phenomenon in that the birds move all at once. No one leads, so no one is following, so how could this be possible unless the birds shared a mind?

Fish seem to do it, too.

Another option is that rather than the minds of the individual birds communicating with one another, the minds of the individual birds are relinquishing control to the currents of an invisible field.

Imagine a thousand ping pong balls on the surface of the ocean, and then make the ocean invisible. I think this would be a good analogy.

(on second consideration, this might just be a rephrasing of what you are already saying)

That's very cool, BrandonD, I had never thought of that. Considering the magnetic sensors inside birds brains, used for migration, and what must be an incredible sense of wind, and direction, and 3D space, there's no telling!