Avid birdlovers or sky watchers should add the phenomenon of the ‘Black sun‘, or ‘Sort Sol‘ as it is called in Denmark, to their bucket lists. This incredible occurrence takes place in southwest Denmark in the marshland near the towns of Tønder and Ribe.
Hundreds of thousands of migrating European starlings form incredible whirling patterns in the air around sunset. At times there are so many, sometimes up to one million, they seem to block out the sun, hence the name bestowed on the performance.
Web/Wikipedia
Scandinavia is the birds’ summer breeding ground, and the starlings can be seen making their aerial displays twice a year, firstly between March and April, and then October to November.
Although the sky dancing is beautiful and amazing to see, the shows aren’t for our benefit. It is thought that the starlings move in unity the way they do to avoid being captured by the birds of prey – falcons, buzzards, hawks – that hover nearby waiting to attack. The swirling movement protects the starlings as it makes it more difficult to get caught.
Web/Wikimedia
If any predators do enter the flock, as a counter-attack, the birds drop bombs of vomit and droppings to make the predators feathers stick together so they can’t fly. Another trick to avoid being captured is for the birds to change their sleeping locations.
This makes the Black Sun unpredictable as it depends entirely what birds of prey are in the neighbourhood and where the starlings choose to sleep. On predator-free nights there are no air ballet shows, and the birds simply descend peaceably to the reeds to feast on marsh insects.
No comments:
Post a Comment