Aerial Ballet: Dance of the Dunlins | video
24 October 2013 by GrrlScientist, posted in Birds, Video
SUMMARY: This gorgeous video captures a murmuration of shorebirds as they evade a hungry peregrine falcon.
Autumn in Seattle and dunlin are inextricably intertwined in my mind. In autumn and winter, dunlin assemble into huge flocks that number from tens to hundreds of thousands of individuals, seeking safety in numbers. The Skagit Valley, located on the upper left-hand corner of the United States about an hour's drive north of Seattle, is one of the best places in the Pacific Northwest to view them in winter.
Dunlin, Calidris alpina, are circumpolar shorebirds, breeding in the high arctic and in subarctic latitudes. In late summer, they migrate to their wintering grounds to rest. Old World populations are long-distance migrants that winter in Africa, in southeast Asia and in the Middle East. But New World populations follow a different life history trajectory: many of those that breed in Alaska and in the Canadian Arctic migrate short distances to winter along the Pacific Coast, and the vast mudflats of the Skagit Valley are a popular destination for them.
Of course, this massive gathering of small shorebirds attracts predators, too. As a result, these birds form huge flocks. When pursued by, say, a peregrine falcon, as you see in the embedded video, they engage in a stunning aerial ballet that is breathtaking to view from the ground.
Ever since my long-time friends at Bird Note Radio shared this evocative video of dunlin as they evade a hungry peregrine falcon, I've been watching and admiring it. And feeling homesick; aching inside because I so miss my visits to Washington State's Skagit Valley to watch these birds in real life.
Filmed by Ray Hamlyn, this video is impressive because it was shot as one long, continuous sequence using a digital camera. It was later edited to include a few close-ups of the main players -- some of the individual dunlin and a peregrine falcon -- and music was added.
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