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Flock of European Starlings almost take down a tree [VIDEO]

video.google.com — A swarming flock of European Starlings descend on a tree and almost bring it down.

Who dugg this? Made popular Jun 24, 2006

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  • inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+50Consider it amagend.

  • DougTanner, on 10/12/2007, -9/+58Reminds of me flocks of DIGGers digging something '.'
  • ff3j, on 10/12/2007, -4/+47Are they superman?
  • Wolfbeta, on 10/12/2007, -5/+44are they planes?
  • asoap, on 10/12/2007, -3/+40Namely Alfred Hitchcock's 'The Birds'.
    http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0056869/
  • EvilOtto, on 10/12/2007, -1/+36I'll be safe filming from this phone booth.......oh wait
  • david76, on 10/12/2007, -1/+35African or European?
  • invader, on 10/12/2007, -1/+35with what? an AK47?
  • invader, on 10/12/2007, -2/+36i can't even amagen a worse attempt to spell 'imagine'
  • jpt62089, on 10/12/2007, -4/+38'amagen' one day even you might use the "Check Spelling" button ;)
  • raingrove, on 10/12/2007, -7/+39Are they birds?
  • Shinta, on 10/12/2007, -2/+34Tell me, What is the air-speed velocity of an unladen swallow?
  • fourfive, on 10/12/2007, -4/+34That's like something from a horror movie.
  • Artifez, on 10/12/2007, -10/+38Good example of flocking behavior appearing to have deep complex structure when it is governed by a few simple rules. This is a good analogy for debunking intelligent design.

    Emergent behavior Wiki link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emergence
  • dbre2, on 10/12/2007, -4/+28duck hunt anyone?
  • Blarion, on 10/12/2007, -4/+27It would stink if they all landed on you.
  • hattrick35, on 10/12/2007, -0/+17http://digg.com/links/Estimating_the_Airspeed_Velocity_of_an_Unladen_Swallow
  • david76, on 10/12/2007, -4/+21Are you the guy who writes the quotes for so called "comedies"? "Funniest movie of the year!" - koick New York Observer.
  • Indistortion, on 10/12/2007, -1/+17"Wow. It's like they've planned an attack on this tree or something."

    These birds obviously hate freedom.
  • Piper7865, on 10/12/2007, -3/+16The Birds were simply trying to get at your sweet sweet eye juices Mr. Simpson
  • nickwebb, on 10/12/2007, -9/+22make sure you get that intelligent design jab in there! Wouldn't want to miss an oppurtunity!
  • brandn487, on 10/12/2007, -4/+17it would stink even more if they all crapped on you
  • inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+12"I don't know if you noticed, but the other trees didn't have any leaves."

    Neither did that one. It's a red cedar...
  • ILL_Robinson, on 10/12/2007, -2/+14Real interesting footage. Tell that guy to stay away from his stock video effects though - his titles were nearly as scary as those starlings (yes, I know the titles were supposed to reflect the birds flying...)
  • ckirsch, on 10/12/2007, -2/+13Imagine if instead of going for a tree, they all attacked a person. That would be a sick video :)

    So weird...
  • mgreenwald, on 10/12/2007, -3/+14Aww why did that get dugg down? It was treelarious!
  • Indistortion, on 10/12/2007, -3/+14mmmmmmmmonster kill
  • da_bradler, on 10/12/2007, -3/+12I'm actually pretty sure they were having an orgy
  • endersadvocate, on 10/12/2007, -3/+11either that or they liked the view...
  • justinvt, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6Hey - here are some impressive pics of larger starling flocks:

    http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/1/10/Sortsolsum-05042006-hw.jpg
  • cekdark, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6where did you get those coconuts?
  • PayneX, on 10/12/2007, -3/+8500 diggs and no one mentions the strings/rope clearly visible 38seconds in?
  • pseudojd, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5a european starling or an american starling? laden or unladen?
  • inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6Those aren't leaves, that's an ever-green.

  • spingk, on 10/12/2007, -2/+7That damn dog couldn't tease you either. Anywhere you shot in that tree would be a guaranteed hit.
  • logic, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Pack your bags, we're getting the flock out of here!
  • alf86, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3I don't know how you can claim anything is "clearly visible" on Google Video. Hehe.

    But no, no strings.
  • Rounin, on 10/12/2007, -0/+31. The tree is nowhere near falling over. I've driven riding mowers over smaller trees like this before and they've always snapped back. Same principal.

    2. Starlings are very skittish birds and when one takes off, they all generally follow suit and then return shortly afterwards.

    Nifty video, but hardly a conspiracy.
  • billyliberty, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Scott Fraser just started using iMovie.

    Cool video, nonetheless.
  • crackintosh, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3you tell him yourself.
  • amoeba, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4It's amazing how they coordinate their movements together. A simple movement translates almost telepathically to the whole group. It certainly resembles the way fish swim in schools.
  • benska, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Dude should have gotten a 12 gauge and gone Cheney on them.
  • Blah_Blah_Blah, on 10/12/2007, -4/+6Yea, it looks unreal! Pretty amazing. They kind of look like a swarm of bees or soemthing. It is scary.
  • klparrot, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2It doesn't spring back before the birds leave; it springs back as they're leaving. First a few leave at the same time, which moves the tree enough to disturb the rest of them, so they leave as well, and as soon as they take their weight off the tree, it can spring back. It's not like they have to be well clear of the tree in order to take their weight off it.
  • elnerdo, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4Bazooka.
  • humanerror, on 04/03/2008, -1/+3Would have been a cool video if not for the guy's annoying voice and use of awful "special effects".
  • Ryosen, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Actually, it was treemendously painful.
  • PlJack, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Seems to me they left the tree every time a car went by.
    Great video.
    This is why I read tech forums..... Oh wait.....
  • otatop, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2You guys think that's crazy, imagine seeing a flock of passenger pigeons.
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passenger_Pigeon

    "The Passenger Pigeon (Ectopistes migratorius) was once probably the most common bird in the world. It is estimated that there were as many as five billion passenger pigeons in the United States. They lived in enormous flocks—the largest of them a mile (1.6 km) wide and 300 miles (500 km) long, taking several days to pass and probably containing two billion birds."
  • foolfromhell, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I see a SeaHorse, Fish, and a Sleeping Bag. What do you see?
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