Thanks to Albert Hitchcock, some people experience ornithophobia or fear of birds. But they offer such a beautiful glimpse of nature. While minding his business in the Netherlands, one man was able to capture a flock of birds dancing above his house. What he captures seconds later is simply magical. This stunning footage will surely leave you in awe.

As you watch, you will need to focus on the tree. At first, many birds fly off the tree, and then they fly back on.  While you might have thought you saw leafy boughs of a tree, it quickly transforms into a leafless giant when its branches were relieved of thousands of birds taking flight at the same time.

“Wow. Weee!” the person filming the scene said with a chuckle. “Fantastic!”

“Short film but a sweet film,” he added.

Based on their habits, the birds appear to be starlings, and according to All About Birds, the coordinated swarms of this type of bird are known as a murmuration.

As it turns out, the starlings strive to put distance between themselves and a predator. Each starling in a flock is connected to every other. When a flock turns in unison, it’s a phase transition.

Starlings may simply be the most visible and beautiful example of a biological urgency, and this is proof!

SHARE the love, pass it on.