awesley@egrunix.UUCP (Tony Wesley) (11/02/90)
Last Saturday, I went to the Oakwoods Metropark near Flat Rock,
Michigan (a tad south of Detroit). While entering the park, I was
amazed to be engulfed in a huge swarm of Starlings! I had to stop the
car, because I was in awe and to avoid hitting any of them. The sky
was literally darkened by them. They were landing and taking off,
forming a huge black cloud that seemed to have a life of its own.
The flock was hundreds of yards across. I am certain that there were
over 1000 birds present. I made that SWAG by looking at one patch of
ground and figuring that it contained > 100 birds. Then, I looked at
my patch vs the ever changing cloud around me and decided that my
ground patch was considerably less than one tenth of the total ground
area. I stopped trying to estimate and just looked.
My wife and I visit that park probably 50 times a year for the last
two years and we've never seen anything like that. Perhaps 20 or so
starlings at a time.
It was a fairly uncommon sight by such a common bird.
--
And little Sir John with his nut brown bowl Tony Wesley/RPT Software
And his brandy in the glass voice: (313) 274-2080
And little Sir John with his nut brown bowl awesley@unix.secs.oakland.edu
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