I looked up on the last day of July at the sound of purple martins, and instead of a swirling flock of feeding birds, I saw a line of the giant swallows flying south toward their winter home ...

Why do flocks of birds swoop and swirl together in the sky? – Artie W., age 9, Astoria, New York A shape-shifting flock of thousands of starlings, called a murmuration, is amazing to see.

In a new piece, Parker highlights the swirling helixes created by the flight patterns of seagulls. As a bird moves across the screen, vapor trails generated by visual echoes trace its wake.

The birds are shown moving in unison, forming dynamic, cloud-like shapes. In the background, cars can be seen passing on the ...

And a gigantic mass of whirling, swirling birds can make it hard to focus on a single target. A falcon or hawk can get confused and distracted by tricky wave patterns in the murmuration’s movements.

And a gigantic mass of whirling, swirling birds can make it hard to focus on a single target. A falcon or hawk can get confused and distracted by tricky wave patterns in the murmuration’s movements.