‘Breathtaking’ starling murmuration captured in Italy

Described as “breathtaking”, 41-year-old Roberto Biddau captured this starling murmuration taking place in Italy. Biddau, a doctor from the Sardinian city of Sassari, who filmed this video in November, says he has enjoyed the murmuration of starlings that visits his home every around the same time every year. “The birds meet in the city at sunset and go to rest in the trees,” he says. “They are migrating from north to south, in autumn they arrive in Sassari and many people watch them.” Why starlings murmurate is not fully understood. One theory is that massive numbers help the birds keep warm before going to roost; another is that it maximises each individual’s chance of survival when under assault by aerial predators. How the birds move together in such close proximity, as though one organism, is another mystery. One study from 2013 found that each starling was responding instantly to the six or seven birds closest to it to maintain group cohesion.