A murmuration is the stunning sight of thousands of starlings flying together in a coordinated flock, swirling and swooping through the sky in beautiful, constantly shifting patterns. The birds move as one massive unit, creating shapes that look like smoke or waves rolling through the air. Scientists still aren't entirely sure how starlings coordinate these movements so perfectly, but each bird appears to track the movements of its seven nearest neighbors and adjust instantly.

Murmurations usually happen at dusk, when starlings gather before settling in to roost for the night. The coordinated movement helps protect them from predators like hawks: a predator attacking the flock sees a confusing, ever-changing cloud of birds instead of individual targets.

While murmuration specifically refers to starlings, people sometimes use it more broadly to describe any large group moving in beautiful coordination, like a murmuration of ideas emerging during a brainstorming session.

If you ever get a chance to witness a murmuration in person, usually in open countryside near where starlings roost, you'll see one of nature's most mesmerizing spectacles: thousands of individual birds creating something far greater than the sum of their parts.