Flock of birds dies from collision with.............asphalt road

[chappachula]

Yes, two hundred birds committed suicide today, by flying full-speed into the ground.

Also, kudos to the articulate British police detective----for just naturally assuming that everybody knows that a flock of starlings is called a “murmuration”.

(Apparently, it was an accident, caused by panicking birds fleeing from a predator, and not paying attention to where they were going.)
.

[Jackmannii]

Tower to starlings: "Pull up, idiots! Pull up!!!

[Richard_Pearse]

Murmurations can be an amazing sight.

Flight of the Starlings: Watch This Eerie but Beautiful Phenomenon | Short Film Showcase

[CookingWithGas]

In airplanes this is called “controlled flight into terrain.” Never heard of it for birds.

[wolfman]

As Life, the Universe and Everything says,

“The Guide says there is an art to flying", said Ford, "or rather a knack. The knack lies in learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss.”

I guess they didn’t have the knack.

[Sunny_Daze]

[TheCuse]

@Richard_Pearse

Murmurations can be an amazing sight.

https://youtu.be/V4f_1_r80RY

That is awesome. Thanks for the link.

[markn_1]

I’ve seen birds fly into windows, but that’s more understandable because the reflections can confuse them.

[atimnie]

I guess they didn’t have the knack.

They had the knack, you could hear “My Sharona” as they crashed.

[markn_1]

I think the fact that there was a murmuration is important in explaining this. An individual bird flying into the ground sounds hard to believe, but in a murmuration each bird is paying attention to its seven (yes exactly seven) nearest neighbors. When flying like this, it’s more understandable that they would lose track of the position of the ground.

[Icarus]

@markn_1

I think the fact that there was a murmuration is important in explaining this. An individual bird flying into the ground sounds hard to believe, but in a murmuration each bird is paying attention to its seven (yes exactly seven) nearest neighbors. When flying like this, it’s more understandable that they would lose track of the position of the ground.

Norris: “Gilbert! Where the fck are you going?"
Gilbert: "Fck if I know. I’m following Digby!”
Digby: “Shit! I was following Norris!”

[Quondam_Mechanic]

Excellent username/post combination there.

[eschereal]

A thread of this nature must needs be incomplete without a posting by Icarus.

Are starlings less of a nuisance in the UK than in the US? Because, in the US, they are about as welcome as Russian Thistle. I recall hearing a story about a town in Ohio some decades ago which tried to convince them to emigrate by playing sounds of a dying starling on a loudspeaker.

[RioRico]

Have we a reason why “bird brain” is an insult?

[eschereal]

@CookingWithGas

In airplanes this is called “controlled flight into terrain.” Never heard of it for birds.

Lithobraking

[panache45]

They crashed into asphalt? Gives new meaning to “tarred and feathered.”

[Qadgop_the_Mercotan]

@panache45

They crashed into asphalt? Gives new meaning to “tarred and feathered.”

Asphalt is not quite the same as tar, Mac.

[purplehorseshoe]

@markn_1

I think the fact that there was a murmuration is important in explaining this. An individual bird flying into the ground sounds hard to believe, but in a murmuration each bird is paying attention to its seven (yes exactly seven) nearest neighbors. When flying like this, it’s more understandable that they would lose track of the position of the ground.

All this nice talk of birds and nature came screeching to a halt when I crashed directly into a goddamn calculus equation. Was not expecting that.

[markn_1]

Don’t look too hard at nature if you don’t want to see calculus.

[silenus]

@Qadgop_the_Mercotan

Asphalt is not quite the same as tar, Mac.

You…out of the pool!