A Murmuration of Starlings

Starling are beautiful birds, with their
white flecked iridescent black feathers,
showing greens and purples as they fly.
Come the autumn they arrive from afar,
to roost and nest in Fen Drayton lakes;
and as the afternoon wanes and the sun 
slowly starts to sink from the sky they
group together in their family flocks.

With sunset approaching more Starlings
arrive from miles around to gather then
arise to form large and even larger flocks,
joining together into their many thousands, 
a pulsing living cloud of birds that drift in
unison overhead in the suns failing light,
harbinger of the coming night, thus giving
impetus to this wondrous murmuration.

Aloft each bird then fixes its own position,
not to be closing on the next birds location;
then with wing responding to wing they 
abandon themselves, becoming conjoined   
into one single organism as a living cloud,
which flows and shape shifts up in the sky:
stretching out, folding back then wheeling
around to begin again another new shape.

From below we watch in awe, hearts agape 
at this mesmerising display, until the light
fades, and the murmuration spirals down 
to the ground to rest and roost in the reed
beds, becoming again smaller groups and 
single birds that need not dream, for they
have already danced with natures divine;
as for us, we find our car and drive away.

© D G Moody 2024