![]() All three times, he has noticed a peregrine falcon hunting the birds. Harris, who heard about the spectacle “through the grapevine,” has gone out to the cemetery three times over the past two weeks to watch the starling flights, which are known as murmurations. Flying together keeps the starlings warm on winter evenings, it confuses predators and it serves as a tool for the birds to communicate when they have found food or a safe place to roost, he said. Much like fish swimming in schools, it’s common for birds to fly in flocks, and scientists believe there are several reasons for such behavior, said Roger Harris, a retired bird biologist who lives in Corte Madera. In 2007, starlings took up residence for a few weeks at the same San Rafael graveyard where they’re gathering this month. Identified by biologists as European starlings, the birds are common in Marin County and occasionally fly around in massive flocks during the winter. ![]() It’s not the first time that such a show has made its way to San Rafael. “They were just making these bizarre patterns where they would all loop together into a ball, and then they’d make a long strand - really unusual formations.” “You can’t even explain it,” said Sanford, who estimated there were hundreds of thousands of birds flying together. “I had never seen anything like that in my life, except maybe on the Discovery Channel or ‘Animal Planet,'” said Robert Sanford, who drove from his home in east San Rafael to the Northgate mall parking lot to watch the birds Tuesday night. As they twist and twirl through the sky, onlookers gather below to watch the spectacle, which started about two weeks ago. Movie theaters are closed and concerts are on hold, but the coronavirus pandemic hasn’t stopped nature from putting on a show in northern San Rafael.Įach night at dusk, thousands of birds have been flying in strangely shaped flocks above a graveyard along Highway 101.
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