The Art of Flying

2015 · 7 min · tt5106736

Every evening at dusk, starlings—wherever they might be nesting—will flock together to perform one of the most mysterious gestures in the natural world. Flitting to and fro, thousands fly in gyroscopic unison. Scientists still don’t know how the birds avoid colliding with one another in these elaborately choreographed murmurations. This short film makes no attempt to explain the winged ritual. No voiceover interrupts the flow. No score intrudes upon the birds’ own song. The majestic ornithological swirl speaks for itself. As the black ribbon of flight careens back and forth across the evening sky, one truth emerges: This flying isn’t an act of necessity. It’s an act of sublime artistic expression.