starlings

this photo was taken by my good friend, Susan Krieg

A Murmuration of Starlings

Mozart's pet starling whistled
the third movement of his piano
concerto number 17.
Master mimics

their conversations, Morse code.

They fly in plague proportions
settling in trees until every 
twig is darkly notched.
Speckled and iridescent
green like an oil slick,
awkward, strong beaked,
and splay footed, they thrive.

In the early dark of fall
their passage overhead
a vast school of minnows
and we are underwater
walled in by trees
swam over by birds 
catching the last light

in this aquarium under the stars.



     As a child I thought that starlings were about the ugliest bird ever. I learned that they had been brought from England along with every other bird named by Shakespeare and introduced to Central Park, NYC.  I looked at them a little different then- they had a romantic past anyway.   Recently I've been studying them while stopped at intersections as they walk and hop along the poles over head as if walking from their living room to their bedroom.  They are so very social.  There has been intriguing new research done to try to understand their mysterious flocking patterns.  Check out this amazing video:  http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2011/11/starling-flock/
     That a humble bird could stir such awe seems to me a very profound thing!