Now that there are 7 billi0n of us on this planet, it seems appropriate to look at and appreciate other great big collections of creatures. This week I came across a wonderful little video (here) of Starlings by Liberty Smith and Sophie Windsor Clive:

now, wasn’t that cute. and incredibly impressive.

In September, I spent a week in eastern Austria (Burgenland) birding and taking birding product photos and I got to see huge flocks of starlings enjoying the grapes (as we enjoyed the products thereof that evening). It looked something like this:

But the world’s most abundant wild bird is the little Red-billed Quelea (Quelea quelea) which can form spectacular flocks but, it seems no-one has thought to film any of these flocks and put them in HD on Youtube, so we will have to make do with this video:

But how about these Socotra Cormorants (Phalacrocorax nigrogularis) in Bahrain:

and these Vaux’s Swifts coming in to roost in an Oregon school:

and don’t forget this collection of various beautiful parrots:

but at the end of the day, nothing sums it up better than a little ditty from The Eels:

Happy birding,

Dale Forbes

Written by Dale Forbes
Dale grew up in the forests and savannas of South Africa, developing a love for nature from a young age. After studying Zoology and Wildlife Science, he moved to Central America to continue his work in conservation biology. He is a member of BirdLife International’s Advisory Board and is Swarovski Optik’s Head of Strategic Business Development.