It’s something of a spectacle watching birds flock together, but that is nothing compared to a murmuration. This special kind of flock is named for the sound of a low murmur it makes from thousands of wingbeats and soft flight calls.
As artistically harmonious as it looks, this coordinated dance might be a defence mechanism more than a performance. Murmurations often form an hour before sunset in most seasons when the birds are near where they’ll sleep.
The more birds in the flock, the lower the risk to any one bird of being the one that gets caught by a predator. A mass of whirling, swirling birds make it hard to focus on a single target.
While the Quelea bird is mostly found in eastern Africa specifically southern Sudan, eastern South Sudan, and Ethiopia, there have been some sightings of the small passerine birds swirling around at The Kruger National Park recently.
You can watch this spectacular murmuration in the video below.
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