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GrrlScientist is an evolutionary biologist, ornithologist, aviculturist, birder and freelance science and nature writer. A native of the Pacific Northwest, she relocated from Seattle to NYC with her parrots after earning a BS in Microbiology (emphasis in Virology) and PhD in Zoology (Ornithology) from the University of Washington. In NYC, she was the Chapman Postdoctoral Fellow at the American Museum of Natural History for two years, pursuing part of her "dream" research project by reconstructing a molecular phylogeny of the parrots of the South Pacific islands. GrrlScientist has written a blog about science since 4 August 2004 (the early years are archived here) and was part of the original invited group of 14 "SciBlings" -- her only claim to fame. If you appreciate GrrlScientist's writing, please help her pay her living expenses by clicking on the Paypal button below and by voting for her to be the official blogger on a month long adventure in Antarctica. If you read an essay that you especially enjoyed, please nominate it for OpenLab2009.
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Topic Categories: Birds • Image of the Day • Photography and cameras • Wow!
Posted on: January 21, 2008 2:59 PM, by "GrrlScientist"
tags: bird tornado, flock of birds, birds, Image of the Day
This image has been receiving a fair amount of attention and discussion this past week (most people think it is photoshopped, for example), so I thought I'd post it here and share it with you. What do you think; is this the result of photoshop?
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Comments
Wow! I don't know if it's photoshopped, but I can imagine it happening. Any idea what the species is? Starling?
Bob
Posted by: Bob O'H | January 21, 2008 3:36 PM
Maybe it's just the low resolution, but are you sure it's really even birds? From here it looks like a bunch of black dots on a blue background, reminding me of a computer model of a tornado.
Posted by: Brian | January 21, 2008 9:00 PM
Hmm. Is there food or something down there that all the birds are diving for? I'm no ornithologist, but it looks like they'd have to be either ascending or descending en masse to get that effect.
Posted by: George | January 21, 2008 9:24 PM
These are, according to the photographer, a flock of Sturnus vulgaris moving into a defensive formation against a raptor. His portfolio includes a much better picture of them utilizing the classic exclamation point defense.
They're very clever birds, you know. Years ago, I was fortunate enough to see a flock spell out, 'Holy crap! It's a raptor! Let's get the flock out of here!!!' It would have been really impressive, except for the fact that raptors can't read.
Posted by: JC | January 21, 2008 9:41 PM
Ha ha! There, folks! I could recognise the species from that photo! And some of you thought they were just black dots!
There are a few clips on youtube of starlings (now that sounds exciting, doesn't it!), so I'll just link to one from the RSPB Otmoor Starling Roost.
Bob
Posted by: Bob O'H | January 22, 2008 1:24 AM
*I* didn't think it was photoshopped -- I've seen the starling flocks in Aberdeen do some very, very similar things.
The starling flocks, when they gather in to the city in the evening, are truly amazing things to watch.
Posted by: Luna_the_cat | January 22, 2008 8:03 AM
I used to watch flocks of starlings over Canberra (where they're introduced vermin) so I'm not surprised to see this. Forget rollercoasters: IMAX theatres should be dedicated full-time to showing starling flocks in 3D.
Posted by: John Scanlon, FCD | January 22, 2008 8:45 PM
"is it PhotoShopped"
I think it is. Sky is too blue and formation too perfect.
Even if Starlings do such things, and, by amazing coincidence, they could form such perfect shape, it is more likely to be photoshop.
BTW - photoshop took much enjoyment from watching photos. You don't marvel "how they did it"!, you know that magical vista was produced in 15 minutes from crappy images.
Posted by: Jerzy | January 23, 2008 12:41 PM
Could this be a flock of swallows or swifts going to roost?
Posted by: Clifford Miles | January 23, 2008 4:00 PM
monster from Lost?
Posted by: alex | January 23, 2008 5:11 PM
What makes this almost certainly an "enhanced" photo is the neatness of the edges an the near perfect distribution of "birds" inside. There's not enough randomness to the distribution. It may be a hoax. It may be an over-worked enhancement of a real event (multiple sharpenings, contrast tweaking). It may be something in between.
I have watched Vaux's Swifts and starlings swirl into roosting spaces. Swifts especially can appear superficially tornado-like. And I estimate the number of dots to be between 30 and 50 thousand which is certainly not unreasonable for a starling flock.
I would treat this photo with lots of skepticism until some independent corroboration can be had.
Posted by: Mike Patterson | January 23, 2008 6:27 PM
After looking at several of the flocking starling YouTube clips linked to the one provided by Bob, above, I think it is real.
Posted by: Angela | January 24, 2008 3:33 PM