murmuration

1. (ornithology, collective) A flock of starlings, in particular when swarming in swirling patterns.Examples: ""Oh! I wasted most of my morning crawling to a murmuration of starlings, which I foolishly mistook for congregation of plover.""; "The same dynamics can be seen in starlings: On clear winter evenings, murmurations of the tiny blackish birds gather in Rome’s sunset skies, wheeling about like rustling cloth."; "Professor Anne Goodenough, an applied ecologist at the University of Gloucestershire who led the research, said: ‘It appears murmuration has become the norm – a general way for the starlings to stay safe from predators.’"collectivecountableuncountable