Jump to content

Thousands of starlings and hundreds of cranes flying south...


Kitty
 Share

Recommended Posts

Yesterday, where I live in the Medoc, I witnessed thousands of starlings flocking in fields ready for their journey south.  What a noise they made.  I clapped my hands and up they flew, an enormous black cloud, wave upon wave, of birds.  I had my four children with me, which made the experience more exciting.

Then this afternoon, at dusk, the sky was full of V-shaped formations of noisy geese, flying south (to Africa?).  With my 9 year-old son, we lost count of how many hundreds there were.   (EDIT: now told that the geese that I thought I saw were in fact cranes.)

What do these birds talk about when flying up there?  Why are they so noisy?

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

[quote user="Frederick"]

  Cathy  ....The squadron leaders  are instructing them to pull their formations in tighter.....plus the comments like   "Does anybody know where we are going ? .... who is in charge...?  and who decided to take us  this way ?
[/quote]

And of course when they passed me they said "look there`s Krusty`s house" [Www]

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks Chris.  It was dusk and they were so high up that I wouldn't have been able to tell the difference.  I wouldn't have noticed but they made such a racket up there.  Over the space of about an hour, there were at least 15 "V" formations and one that wasn't in a "V" but a very, very long diagonal line.

Do they stop at night or do they carry on flying?

How can there be enough food for all of them, when they would need so much to make such a long journey?

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't think that starlings migrate.They mill about the Runcorn bridge in their thousands. They seem to like to group together to roost. I believe that in Dublin they make the trees look black with their numbers. Geese tend to chatter all the time while flying in formation and swans sound as if they need oiling as their wingbeats make a very odd noise.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

They can and often do fly all night, but you probably aren't aware of the fact that there is a large area just to the south of Bordeaux where they congregate, many will spend the winter there, so it is more than likely that many, if not all of the cranes that you saw will have touched down either there or a bit further south in Aquitaine.

(Oh, and I'm sure that it was Cranes that you saw.[:D])

Chris

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Chris

Thank you so much.  This is very exciting.  I have told my 9 year old son (who was with me at the time) and we have been looking on the internet for pictures of cranes.

I have changed the title of the thread.

Do you know where exactly they congregate south of Bordeaux?  I was thinking of paying a visit as we have only just north of Bordeaux (on the coast).  They were flying due south from us, presumably following the coastline.

Where do they live in the summer?

As for the starlings, we do not usually see so many of them around here in such huge numbers and so I just assumed that they were gathering together to fly south.

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well, if I hadn't read this topic, I would have said I saw the geese flying south the day before yesterday eastern Maine et Loire). Three "V" formations and a diagonal. I heard the sound from inside the house and dashed out. Yes, it does sound like "grue grue".

How many years have I been looking out for the "geese"??? It doesn't bear thinking about !
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Starlings are what is known as 'partial migrants', meaning that the resident population is increased at a certain times of the year by birds migrating from elsewhere.

In this case - Starlings + Western Europe - this means winter and the birds come from Eastern and Northern Europe.

Go here for more info: http://w3.rennes.inra.fr/etourneau/fiche/biologie_etourneau.htm

HTH

Craig in 34 where the starlings have arrived to raid any grapes left on the vines ...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

""Starlings are what is known as 'partial migrants', meaning that the resident population is increased at a certain times of the year by birds migrating from elsewhere.""

That could be one way of describing the situation but I don't think that it really tells the whole story.[;-)]

Partial migration is normally, (as far as I understand it), defined as....

"A bird, (or other species), where some individuals remain as resident where they are, but others migrate over varying distances"

Cranes and Hen Harriers are other good examples, although in the case of Cranes it would only involve small numbers that remain in situ, the others have what I would describe as a "staggered partial migration"

What do you reckon?

Back later, have a trip organised for this afternoon.

Chris

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks for the map, Chris. One of the reserves is just a hop and a skip from me, so I'm going to visit it.

Ventodue - welcome to the Forum.  The starlings eating the leftover grapes makes sense.  Where I saw them flocking was in fields next to vast vineyards, with plenty of wizzened (is that how you spell the word) grapes.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

[quote user="chris pp"]

"That could be one way of describing the situation but I don't think that it really tells the whole story.[;-)]

Partial migration is normally, (as far as I understand it), defined as....

"A bird, (or other species), where some individuals remain as resident where they are, but others migrate over varying distances"

[/quote]

Hi Chris,

Yes, you're right, this is the classic definition of a partial migration, certainly when applied to a population.   However, when applied to a species, such as in this case, I'm quite happy to use it, not least 'cos I'm not sure there is a term to describe the phenomonen where a resident population is increased by a seasonal influx of migratory indviduals ...??

But, then again, it's been a while since I did my ecology and I confess, I haven't really kept up   ("Population Ecology: A Unified Study of Animals and Plants.", Michael Begon & Martin Mortimer - do you remember that?!)

Cheers

Craig

Link to comment
Share on other sites

you lucky people- I do hope to see a flock of cranes one day. but not likely in East Leics or the Jura!

Now as a foreigner in the UK I've made plenty of very embarrassing mistakes in English - one of them was to ask at Rutland Water bird reserve what the difference is between a Cormorant and a shag. You can guess the answer I got!Hmmm. but honestly Chris, what is the difference in French please. Un cormoran et un ?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

European Shag.

http://www.oiseaux.net/oiseaux/cormoran.huppe.html

("Population Ecology: A Unified Study of Animals and Plants.", Michael Begon & Martin Mortimer - do you remember that?!)

Not a work that I've ever had the pleasure of and I'm not likely to now that I've seen the price.[:(] anyway, any books that I do splash out on these days are French.

Good to have you on board Craig, please keep posting.[:D]

Chris

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...