Thousands of birds fly as one over Delhi: Nature's stunning drone show explained

Learn how these synchronised flights work without a leader, and why birds move in perfect harmony across the skies.

In Short

• Each bird follows movements of six or seven nearest neighbours, creating flowing shapes
• Murmurations occur at dusk to confuse predators like falcons and hobbies
• Murmurations also help birds share information on food and safe resting spots

Every winter evening over the wetlands across India, over the lakes of Mumbai, or in Delhi, thousands of rosy starlings take flight together, twisting and soaring like a single living cloud. It is nature giving a startling performance.

A similar scene was witnessed in Delhi this week as starlings flew across the capital's sky to the backdrop of a setting Sun.

Scientists call this collective flight a murmuration, a term for when a large flock of birds moves together in a swirling, shape-shifting mass.

But what exactly is happening up there, and why do birds do it?

Let's start with the fact that, in a murmuration, no one bird is in charge, no leader calling the shots.

Instead, each starling simply watches its six or seven nearest neighbours and copies their movements in real time. It speeds up when they speed up, slows when they slow, and turns when they turn. That one simple rule, followed simultaneously by thousands of birds, creates the breathtaking, flowing shape we see from the ground.

In India, rosy starlings are the most spectacular performers of this behaviour. Every winter, vast flocks migrate here from Central Asia and Eastern Europe, turning the skies above Gujarat’s Rann of Kutch and Rajasthan’s Keoladeo National Park into living, shifting spectacles.

Flamingos and wading birds at wetlands across the country put on similar displays.

WHY DO BIRDS FLY AS ONE?

A single word is the reason behind this spectacle. Survival.

Murmurations usually happen at dusk, just before birds settle in to sleep for the night, also exactly when hunters like peregrine falcons and Eurasian hobbies are out hunting. A lone starling is an easy meal, but a swirling cloud of thousands is a nightmare for any predator to navigate.

The tiny birds rely on each other to confuse the predators, illustrating the power of unity.

Scientists call this the confusion effect; it's the idea that a constantly shifting, tightly packed flock makes it almost impossible for a predator to single out and chase one bird.

Every time a hawk or an eagle dives in, the flock ripples and closes around the gap, offering no clean target. Birds on the outer edges instinctively push inward when danger appears, making the mass even denser and disorienting.

But it is not only about escaping attack.

The unique pattern of flight also helps birds share information, like about warm places to sleep or patches of food. It's useful knowledge when you have flown thousands of kilometres into an unfamiliar landscape.

Murmurations, which is often construed as a chaotic flight, is actually a collective effort by winged creatures to survive.

- Ends