Word Smith: Murmuration
When we first moved to Portland in 2001, we were invited to witness the late summer night of vaux swift’s, as they entered the de-commissioned smoke stack at Chapman Elementary School. Kids were riding cardboard boxes down the adjacent hill, parents were having picnic bar-ba-ques, and the peregine falcon’s were nearby, awaiting their time for their own dinner. It was a spectacle of avian party proportions that my wife and I had never seen before, and it became a near-annual late September ritual for us just before dusk.
At its heart, a murmuration of swifts is a massive, circular vortex of birds all entering an opening (tree or chimney) as if in one continuous funnel. It is a thrill to witness in person. At its crescendo, the murmuration marks the end of the day and naptime for these mature migrating birds.
Murmur of the Heart and More
We have all heard of a heart murmur: it is an extra, unusual sound in your heartbeat. Cardiologists say it can sound like a whooshing or swishing noise in the patient’s chest. The extra noise happens when a person’s blood doesn’t flow smoothly through their heart. A doctor or trained medical professional can hear the sounds of a patient’s heart with the aid of a stethoscope.
- Organizational Murmuration is the name given to an organization that provides data, tools, and research to help community-level organizations make systems change.
- Real Estate Murmuration is the real estate term that refers to enhancing and certifying the quality of life on a given piece a property.
- Fish and/or insects sometimes move together in a synchronized way, often changing direction at the same time, which is an act of murmuration.
While the word “murmuration” has multiple meanings, including an organization that helps community-level organizations, real estate dealings, and fish formations, this Word Smith is focuing on the phenomenon of Bird murmurations. [1]
Back to the Birds
Seemingly circular in logic, the word murmuration is both a phenomenon and the name given a group of birds, usually starlings. While some birds in community are known as flocks (geese) or murders (crows) or colonies (puffins) or charms (finches) or banditries (chickadees), starlings in great profusion are known as murmurations. They fly together in a coordinated and unpredictable way. The birds change direction and swirl back and forth, collectively taking on different shapes in the sky.
Starlings are famous for their murmurations, but other birds, such as geese, robins, swifts and flamingos, can also make celestial shapes that seem to murmurate. Starlings have been known to be in murmurations of over 700,000 birds, flying as fast as 50 miles per hour.
While Witness Posts and Word Smiths with their images and language are interesting, they are not as inspiring as the videos out on YouTube and other sharing sites. See for yourself how interesting murmurations are in the real world.
Henry E. Hooper 