Hmmm, can we learn a life lesson from the unique behaviour of the common Starling?
As an avid birdwatcher, I try to appreciate all birds – the common species I see regularly as well as the heart-pumping, once-in-a-season sightings. I will confess, however, that I often take Starlings for granted since they are always present in significant numbers.
But at this time of year, Starlings transform into a collective that in itself stirs my soul. Hundreds or even thousands of Starlings come together in flocks which move as a wave – twisting and turning, changing direction at a moment’s notice and shape-shifting in geometric patterns.
This phenomenon is known as a murmuration. I do not know who coined the phrased. But I love the cadence of it and the way it rolls off the tongue. It elegantly captures the way each bird in the flock bends its will to the greater good and achieves perfect unison with its companions.
A murmuration of Starlings in an airborne dance of delight – a random act of metaphor to teach us that harmony is a state of grace much to be coveted and a thing of wonder to behold.
~Now Available Online from Amazon, Chapters Indigo or Barnes & Noble: Hunting Muskie, Rites of Passage – Stories by Michael Robert Dyet
~ Michael Robert Dyet is the author of Until the Deep Water Stills: An Internet-enhanced Novel which was a double winner in the Reader Views Literary Awards 2009. Visit Michael’s website at www.mdyetmetaphor.com or the novel online companion at www.mdyetmetaphor.com/blog.
~ Subscribe to Michael’s Metaphors of Life Journal aka Things That Make Me Go Hmmm at its’ internet home www.mdyetmetaphor.com/blog2. Instructions for subscribing are provided in the Subscribe to this Blog: How To instructions page in the right sidebar. If you’re reading this post on another social networking site, come back regularly to my page for postings once a week.
Tags: harmony · metaphor · Michael Robert Dyet · murmuration · StarlingsNo Comments