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Science of a Starling Murmuration

A flock of starlings is called a murmuration. These flocks may include other species of starlings and sometimes species from other families. This sociality is particularly evident in their roosting behaviour; in the non-breeding season some roosts can number in the thousands of birds. Starlings imitate a variety of avian species and have a repertoire of about 15–20 distinct imitations. They also imitate a few sounds other than those of wild birds. The calls of abundant species, calls that are simple in frequency structure and calls that show little amplitude modulation are preferentially imitated. There are local dialects of mimicked sounds.[3] Starlings have also been known to imitate other, man-made environmental sounds, such as phone boxes and cars.

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Channels: Ecology

Tags: Murmuration

Uploaded by: ( Send Message ) on 19-08-2015.

Duration: 1m 4s