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Nick Dunlop

Taken near a nightly roost site, starling flocks will often stay high in the sky when they feel threatened by an aerial predator, whether it be a falcon or a hawk. These widely changing shapes can be quite beautiful, especially when combined with dramatic evening light. Once they feel out of danger, they drop quickly to trees below.

As a falcon approaches at high speed, the starlings turn in tight formation to avoid capture.

This immature falcon has captured a starling and is trying to dispatch it quickly with a bite to the neck. This image also shows the starling’s fight for survival as it fights off the falcons bite with its own beak.

When starlings are feeding on the ground and a falcon approaches at high speed the flocks rise quickly into the air and compress into ever changing shapes, which can intimidate a closer attack. The luckiest starlings are typically the ones in the middle.

This is a starling’s point of view from inside the flock as a falcon attacks from above.

Backlit by a cloudy bright sky, the flock’s wings takes on a translucent effect. I call it starling wallpaper.

Some falcons are very territorial about the areas they hunt and when two falcons are hunting the same flock some squabbling and fighting may occur. Piracy is also very common as one falcon will often try to steal prey from another.

As a falcon streaks across the evening sky the flocks sometimes form tightly packed “ribbons”.