Insane Bird Video

This video was posted on Ebaum's World, a website of humerous and wierd videos. I remember there being some discussion here about the effect that global warming and other environmental factors are having on the Bird population, and I couldn't help but think of that when I saw this video.

It is strange for certain, and I'd be interested to hear your thoughts on it.

The Video

I had a few ideas that went through my mind.

Are they having fun?

Are they trying to get something to eat from the trees like bugs?


Troy

Cool video and thanks for linking it.

I thought that the birds were in school or something? Learning some concept or behaviour in a large group. Amazing to see how that many individual creatures can integrate that well in a complex maneouver.

I love how the trees bend close to the ground and then slingshot upwards when the birds fly out.

Do birds like these who fly in large, close quarters groups have ways to communicate similar to schools of fish? I've heard schools of certain types of fish can signal each other through electric pulses in the water, therby ensuring the school moves as a group. Has there been any study on this phenomenon with birds?

Crazy Video - Hitchcock's The Birds is right!

Yeah, those birds were so unified in their actions as if they were just "one" thing.

Troy

Ive seen something very similar to this type of behavior except the massive amounts of birds that I was viewing were flying between two telephone lines just like in that video maybe the birds behavior has something to do with the electrical currents or something?

Very typical behavior for Starlings....

As mentioned in the video, THAT tree was prime real estate because it provided cover.

GREAT Vid!!!

I was watching the Discovery Channel tonight and I saw fish doing some pretty cool things. They had a defensive action where they swam in unity and formed a mass like a ball. The precision and awareness of each other is amazing, especially considering how fast they were moving.

Troy

Originally posted by loam
Very typical behavior for Starlings....

i dont know about that....

any evidence ?

i recall a starling thread a few weeks back.....www.abovetopsecret.com...

can't bring up the video right now but sounds like the same one....

I saw the same thing happening yesterday just behind our house. A group of starlings were attacking our neighbours cherry tree.
The birds started to get really loud so I went outside to check what is going on. And I saw them *diving* into the cherry in a group of ~30, while another half stayed on our rooftop. they made turns "attacking" the cherry. They were really hysterical and very loud.
my neighbour was outside at that time and I asked him about it. He said they have attacked that same tree several times in the last month. He thought it was strange but didn't think much about it. he laughed at them during the attacks.

ps: i'm from central Europe.