They often perform their aerial acrobatics over their roosting site as they gather together for the night. Starlings also gather to keep warm at night and exchange information about good feeding areas. Grouping together offers safety in numbers as predators like peregrine falcons find it hard to target one bird in amongst a hypnotising flock of thousands. Small birds will share the same tiny roost space and even flocking together in a single tree helps birds share body heat.īirds gather in murmurations for a variety of reasons. Flamingos are an example of an obligate colonial species that have to breed in flocks.īirds like the common scoter can flock together to stay warm. Concentrating the nests in one area makes it easier for the adults to look after vulnerable chicks, as they can take advantage of flock benefits against predators. While parents look after individual nests, they often place them close to each other. Some birds form colonies or communal flocks on nesting grounds called rookeries. Wading birds like redshank forage together. Pelicans are a good example of this as they will spot the foraging actions of others and use this to focus in on a good feeding area. If one bird in a flock finds a reliable food source it will alert the flock and the entire group benefits. Geese and swans flock to the safety of their night time roosts on lakes and estuaries around dusk.įlocking also has foraging benefits. In addition, staying in a flock means it’s harder for a predator to identify a single target and a group of birds can also confuse or overwhelm a predator through mobbing. A large group of birds has a much better chance of spotting predators than a single bird. Flocking helps keep birds safe from predators.

This has the benefit, especially for large-bodied birds, of enabling them to fly in the most energy-efficient way by flying in each other’s slipstream. Geese and swans often fly in flocks in specific formations during long migrations. As a result, the ‘ripple’ through a flock is three times faster than could be explained if the birds were just watching the bird next to them. Rather than waiting for a cue from their immediate neighbour, a bird watches a number of birds around it. How do they do it? Research has shown that in fact a turn ‘ripples’ through a flock, much as a cheerleading wave passes through sports fans at a stadium. Yet they can exhibit lighting reactions and make seemingly synchronised turns, appearing to move as one. Starlings and shorebirds like dunlin and plover sometimes reach speeds of 40mph in dense groups where the space between them may be little more than their body length. Many birds form groups – swans and geese fly in formation to save energy during flight - but only a handful really fly together.

Migrants from the Arctic and temperate breeding grounds form spectacular concentrations at overwintering sites from the Sahel region of Africa to the UK’s estuaries and wetlands like those around WWT’s wetland reserves. En-route they flock together at relatively few crucial staging sites where they gather to feed and rest as part of their migration journey. But as the time comes for them to migrate south they come together in thousands or even millions. Thereby increasing their chances of attracting an equally good quality partner that will be a successful parent.'ĭuring the breeding season, ducks, geese and swans disperse over wide areas in the Arctic to nest and rear their young.

It takes a lot of effort to raise a flamingo chick, so the birds perform their courtship dance as a group, as it’s the best way to ensure they can show off their good qualities to as many other individuals as possible. They flock together because they have a very narrow niche (not many habitats to choose from) and therefore they must be social to co-exist together.

Our resident flamingo expert, Dr Paul Rose, says: 'Flamingos use flocking to organise all key aspects of their lives - breeding, feeding and courtship. The sight and sound of a starling murmuration is an unmissable experienceīut it's not just starlings. In spring on the coastal wetlands of south-west Denmark, some starling flocks can number more than a million, and it’s known as ‘Sort Sol’ which means ‘Black Sun’ in Danish. The sight of thousands of starlings swooping, diving and whirling in unison, creating swirls of black smoke across the sky, is an extraordinary sight. Starling murmurations are one of the most famous forms of flocking and are a sight to behold in our wetlands in winter.

Starling flocks flying