A Mesmerizing Film That Reveals the Elaborate Flight Patterns of Starling Murmurations to Confuse Predators

Photographer Xavi Bou, who captures multiple flight patterns of birds through a photographic method of his own design called “Ornithographies”, has created a stunning film that shows the flight of a starling murmuration performing an elaborate dance so as to evade, confuse and overwhelm an attack of predatory birds. The images are incredibly tranquil and mesmerizing, helped by a beautiful soundtrack by Kristina Dutton.

In winter, starlings join in flocks of thousands of individuals to try to confuse the hawks that attack them, doing a mesmerizing dance. This video is part of the Ornitografias project, a project in which Xavi Bou has been working for years, which consists in visualizing the beauty of bird flight paths.

via Nag on the Lake

Lori Dorn
Lori Dorn

Lori is a Laughing Squid Contributing Editor based in New York City who has been writing blog posts for over a decade. She also enjoys making jewelry, playing guitar, taking photos and mixing craft cocktails.