# Beautiful natural phonomenon above Dutch city: millions of sparrows flying in formation. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 6, 2011, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beautiful-natural-phonomenon-above-dutch-city-millions-of-sparrows-flying-in-formation/573705 "2011-03-06T21:26:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Maastricht](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e57/32.png) [@Maastricht](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maastricht)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2011, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beautiful-natural-phonomenon-above-dutch-city-millions-of-sparrows-flying-in-formation/573705/1 "2011-03-06T21:26:46Z")
I’ve seen it myself when I lived in Utrecht, the third largest city in the Netherlands. Every night at about dinnertime, millions of sparrows would come from the city and around it, and fly in dense dark clouds for about half an hour before settling down for the night again. T[his swarm is the biggest in the Netherlands, and someone made this clip of it](http://www.zie.nl/video/opmerkelijk/Natuurwonder-boven-Utrecht/m1gz0fwf7ru0). Do any US cities know this phenomenon as well? ---
**Author:** ![Maastricht](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e57/32.png) [@Maastricht](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maastricht)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2011, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beautiful-natural-phonomenon-above-dutch-city-millions-of-sparrows-flying-in-formation/573705/2 "2011-03-06T21:29:39Z")
Answered my own question; [here is a similar swarm above Sacramento.](http://www.zie.nl/video/opmerkelijk/Spreeuwenwolk-boven-Sacramento-County/m1czsh1fxie5) ---
**Author:** ![Baal\_Houtham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baal_houtham/32/13604_2.png) [@Baal\_Houtham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baal_Houtham)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2011, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beautiful-natural-phonomenon-above-dutch-city-millions-of-sparrows-flying-in-formation/573705/3 "2011-03-06T21:35:40Z")
I can’t remember seeing any bird flocks quite that dramatic. I assume the clip is being run in “fast motion.” The formation at the 1:00 minute mark --which looks like a giant bird-- is very striking ---
**Author:** ![Tangent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tangent/32/3098_2.png) [@Tangent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tangent)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2011, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beautiful-natural-phonomenon-above-dutch-city-millions-of-sparrows-flying-in-formation/573705/4 "2011-03-06T21:50:04Z")
The emergence of 1.5 million bats from under the Congress Ave. Bridge in Austin, Texas each summer night is an impressive sight. [![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xAKcYvkiBX0) In some videos of the bats, you can see a similar sort of flocking behavior as the swallows from the OP. ---
**Author:** ![Ostrya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/35a633/32.png) [@Ostrya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ostrya)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2011, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beautiful-natural-phonomenon-above-dutch-city-millions-of-sparrows-flying-in-formation/573705/5 "2011-03-06T22:02:26Z")
Those aren’t sparrows, they’re european starlings. Could we get **Colibri** in here please? ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2011, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beautiful-natural-phonomenon-above-dutch-city-millions-of-sparrows-flying-in-formation/573705/6 "2011-03-06T22:16:41Z")
Are you sure they aren’t African swallows? ---
**Author:** ![Ostrya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/35a633/32.png) [@Ostrya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ostrya)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2011, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beautiful-natural-phonomenon-above-dutch-city-millions-of-sparrows-flying-in-formation/573705/7 "2011-03-06T22:29:49Z")
You mean because of the coconuts? ---
**Author:** ![Maastricht](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e57/32.png) [@Maastricht](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maastricht)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2011, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beautiful-natural-phonomenon-above-dutch-city-millions-of-sparrows-flying-in-formation/573705/8 "2011-03-06T23:14:13Z")
> [@Baal\_Houtham](#): > > I assume the clip is being run in “fast motion.” No, That is the real speed. I remember that from seeing it myself, live. Usually when I came home from work and saw them above the train station. And yes, those are (european) [starlings](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starling), not sparrows, my bad. When seen hopping about on lawns, they look like [this](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0f/Colourful_starling.jpeg). A shiny, speckly black. The Dutch name for them is “Spreeuwen” ---
**Author:** ![Filbert](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/filbert/32/3433_2.png) [@Filbert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Filbert)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2011, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beautiful-natural-phonomenon-above-dutch-city-millions-of-sparrows-flying-in-formation/573705/9 "2011-03-06T23:17:50Z")
Definitely starlings, nice clip though 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![A.Gwilliam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ea5d25/32.png) [@A.Gwilliam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/A.Gwilliam)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2011, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beautiful-natural-phonomenon-above-dutch-city-millions-of-sparrows-flying-in-formation/573705/10 "2011-03-07T00:02:21Z")
Dammit, I recently learned the name for this bird behaviour, but my note of it was lost when my PC suffered a major crash! ☹ I think it’s a word beginning with “m”. Does anyone know what it is…? ---
**Author:** ![Foggy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foggy/32/1082_2.png) [@Foggy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Foggy)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2011, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beautiful-natural-phonomenon-above-dutch-city-millions-of-sparrows-flying-in-formation/573705/11 "2011-03-07T00:20:14Z")
Captain Starling notices the position of the sun, he sounds the alarm. Millions of starlings take to the sky and in unison cry out: “Form of VOLTRON!” :p:D ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2011, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beautiful-natural-phonomenon-above-dutch-city-millions-of-sparrows-flying-in-formation/573705/12 "2011-03-07T00:26:26Z")
That is awesome and beautiful. :: forwards OP’s link :: ---
**Author:** ![FloatyGimpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/floatygimpy/32/7750_2.png) [@FloatyGimpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FloatyGimpy)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2011, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beautiful-natural-phonomenon-above-dutch-city-millions-of-sparrows-flying-in-formation/573705/13 "2011-03-07T00:52:22Z")
Parts of that are just insane. The music went with it perfectly. It was beautiful and moving, thank you for posting it. ---
**Author:** ![Achren](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/898d66/32.png) [@Achren](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Achren)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2011, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beautiful-natural-phonomenon-above-dutch-city-millions-of-sparrows-flying-in-formation/573705/14 "2011-03-07T01:05:30Z")
**A. Gwilliam** - I tried google, but the only thing I saw that started with an m was on a Youtube comment - “morphogenetic fields”. Does that sound right? ---
**Author:** ![A.Gwilliam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ea5d25/32.png) [@A.Gwilliam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/A.Gwilliam)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2011, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beautiful-natural-phonomenon-above-dutch-city-millions-of-sparrows-flying-in-formation/573705/15 "2011-03-07T01:08:54Z")
> [@A.Gwilliam](#): > > Dammit, I recently learned the name for this bird behaviour, but my note of it was lost when my PC suffered a major crash! ☹ > > I think it’s a word beginning with “m”. Does anyone know what it is…? My memory just kicked in! This behaviour is called “murmuration”. ---
**Author:** ![mozchron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c2a13f/32.png) [@mozchron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mozchron)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2011, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beautiful-natural-phonomenon-above-dutch-city-millions-of-sparrows-flying-in-formation/573705/16 "2011-03-07T01:09:13Z")
Flocking (and schooling) behavior is an amazing natural example of how very complex behavior can come out of some very simple rules. Flocking behavior fascinated me as an undergrad. I started to work on developing computer algorithms to mimic it, only to find out (thankfully before I had wasted too much time on it) that I was only about 10 years late to the party. [in the 1980’s, Craig Reynolds developed a very simple algorithm, called “Boids” (for bird-like objects) that simulated this behavior very nicely](http://www.red3d.com/cwr/boids/). In short, that complex flocking behavior can be explained by 3 simple rules: 1. Boids attempt to fly towards the center of mass of neighboring boids. 2. Boids try to avoid hitting other boids by keeping a small distance between them. 3. Boids attempt to match velocity with boids that are near them. I’m still fascinated by this, over a decade later. Cool stuff! ---
**Author:** ![Don\_t\_Panic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/don_t_panic/32/398_2.png) [@Don\_t\_Panic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_Panic)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2011, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beautiful-natural-phonomenon-above-dutch-city-millions-of-sparrows-flying-in-formation/573705/17 "2011-03-07T01:21:20Z")
Huh. **A. Gwilliam,** I though you might have been thinking of [emergence](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emergence), which flocking is a kind of. Apparently not, though. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Achren](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/898d66/32.png) [@Achren](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Achren)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2011, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beautiful-natural-phonomenon-above-dutch-city-millions-of-sparrows-flying-in-formation/573705/18 "2011-03-07T01:29:01Z")
> [@FloatyGimpy](#): > > Parts of that are just insane. The music went with it perfectly. It was beautiful and moving, thank you for posting it. The music is by Andrew Bird - [Yawny at the Apocalypse](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SbLIphmuBpo).