Spreeuwendans / Swirling Starlings

wirling swarms of starlings are incredibly dynamic and aesthetically pleasing. They sometime seem to create shapes that you only see when you photograph the flock. It’s like taking a still, a snapshot of the clouds of birds flowing across the evening heavens. In the Nibelungen series, photographer Erik Hijweege has captured the dramatic feel of clouds of starlings in the Dutch skies. In his photographs, the starlings seem to form a fish, a swan, a seal or a ram. Art historian Maartje van de Heuvel compares Hijweege’s work against the rich tradition of seventeenth-century Dutch painting, in which the artists already had a keen eye for natural aerial drama. The grandeur of nature as shown in his work is also reminiscent of motifs from Romanticism and Asian art. Nature journalist Koos Dijksterhuis helps us explore the phenomenon of these huge flocks – or murmurations – of starlings. He examines how starlings flock together and looks at the wonderful choreography of this breath-taking natural phenomenon.