It appears that the birds are staying around Rome these days rather than heading south the way they use to in November - but its not climate change just a change of vacation plans. It is not unusual to see clouds of them just before sunset.
The acrobatics were literally stopping traffic - a few people had gotten out of their cars in the middle of the bridge to take movies. I did a few seconds of video from the safety of the sidewalk.
It was a beautiful if at the same time slightly unsettling display. Alfred Hitchcock has a great deal to answer for!
24 novembre - Sant'Andrea Dũng Lạc e suoi 116 compagni di martiri
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8 comments:
Agree with you about Alfred Hitcock. But it's still a lovely sight.
Have you seen the parakeets in London? Thousands of them in trees, all screeching. Apparently, some birds either escaped or were let go and they've adapted beautifully to the London climate.
CP
does make me think of the birds..but wow..it is amazing .
A walk in the Trastevere, plus this gorgeous icecream we all have to dream about, then the joy of following the sketchings made by the flight of those birds, and sharing it all with us! Well...
If that isn't 'luck' what is it ?
(And not far from Santa Cecilia's crypt ...lucky you too!)
In our old house, every Spring we had a flock of starlings about that size roosting in front of our house for about a week. There was a large mulberry tree nearby, and they would eat mulberries all day, then roost at our place at night. Each morning our car was covered with mulberry-colored poop!
Well that's just beautiful!
And a little frightening.
I think the flocks always used to hang around well into Christmas - I remember seeing the same spectacle from Monte Pincio in late December many years ago. Aren't they starlings?
David: Yes as I mentioned they are starlings and have become a very big problem now in the city. Some older friends here were saying that they recall when they were younger you wouldn't see them with the onset of winter. Winter here being of course when the temperature dips below 10c ;-)
Sorry, I should have read your text more carefully. All I can say is that we DID see these flocks in freezing, clear weather one Christmas probably about 15 years ago.
I guess the lesson is that anything in huge quantities is a problem. And I find their electric wire zinging noise a bit scary, too.
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