Good morning…
Inspired by our post about the unifying synchronicity of the leaf-feather-stick trio resting on the sands of Grayton Beach, Florida, one of you turned me on to the God-designed instinct implanted in starlings. “When you read about what murmuration is, you will see lots of possibilities for how groups/teams/families/systems might work together to flex and adapt to change. Without the top down hierarchy that causes problems during periods of great change!” she explained.
Hardwired for “murmuration,” individual birds are protected from predators by moving quickly and closely in unifying synchronicity. Stronger together, each starling escapes the presence of danger by remaining in sync with seven nearby friends. To see how God’s invisible power can manifest itself visibly in our everyday lives, let’s watch this cool video and witness a mesmerizing phenomenon.
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The incredible science behind starling murmurations by JAYMI HEIMBUCH January 9, 2014
As starlings gather in the evenings to roost, often they will participate in what is called a murmuration — a huge flock that shape-shifts in the sky as if it were one swirling liquid mass. Often the behavior is sparked by the presence of a predator like a hawk or peregrine falcon, and the flock’s movement is based on evasive maneuvers. There is safety in numbers, so the individual starlings do not scatter but rather are able to move as an intelligent cloud, feinting away from a diving raptor, thousands of birds changing direction almost simultaneously. The question that has had scientists stumped is how each bird, most of them tens or hundreds of birds away from the danger, senses the shift and moves in unison?
The secret lies in the same systems that apply to anything on the cusp of a shift, like snow before an avalanche, where the velocity of one bird affects the velocity of the rest. It’s called “scale-free correlation,” and every shift of the murmuration is called a critical transition. Giorgio Parisi, a theoretical physicist with the University of Rome, lead a research team looking into the amazing movement of starlings and published a paper in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in 2010.
“The change in the behavioral state of one animal affects and is affected by that of all other animals in the group, no matter how large the group is. Scale-free correlations provide each animal with an effective perception range much larger than the direct interindividual interaction range, thus enhancing global response to perturbations.”
Because the size of the flock doesn’t matter, a huge flock is able to respond to a predator attack as effectively and fluidly as a small flock. No matter the size, the system works. If one bird changes speed or direction, so do the others. The question remains, however, how does an individual bird spark a change if all are busy responding to the movement of everyone else? And more importantly, how do they do it so incredibly quickly?
Measuring how a change in direction by one bird affects those around it, the team discovered that one bird’s movement only affects its seven closest neighbors. So one bird affects its seven closest neighbors, and each of those neighbors’ movements affect their closest seven neighbors and so on through the flock. This is how a flock is able to look like a twisting, morphing cloud with some parts moving in one direction at one speed and other parts moving at another direction and at another speed.
…Why seven? It’s one of those numbers that just works in nature, and a systems-theoretic approach to studying starling flocks showed it. “Interacting with six or seven neighbors optimizes the balance between group cohesiveness and individual effort,” write the researchers in the study.
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Now let’s ponder, “During this season of my life, who are seven close friends God is using to guide me daily, keeping me safe from life’s dangers, steering me toward a full life of abundance?” If and when the Spirit moves you, share with each person in your flock: “I am so grateful God is supporting me through you.”
Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father’s care. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows (Matthew 10:29-31, NIV).
…Sue…
P.S. If you feel one cool video is just not enough. Touch on this link and be mesmerized more.
