Page 23 - Italina-American Herald - January 2025

ITALIAN-AMERICAN HERALD
JANUARY 2025 | ITALIANAMERICANHERALD.COM 23
NEWS FROM ITALY
Magnificent and messy,
millions of starlings make
annual winter appearance
By Jeanne Outlaw Cannavo
Each year in Italy the harbinger of winter
is announced with the beautiful sight of
stormi di storni as large flocks of starlings
swirl above the cities of Italy. I remember
watching in awe as these flocks of swarmed
over the city of Rome with acrobatic feats of
swirls and swoops that rival any aerial display
I have ever seen.
Officials estimate that 1 million to 5
million starlings have chosen the Eternal City
as their wintering ground as they do as well
in other cities. Every year the birds show up
between October and February, migrating
from the colder climate of Northern Europe
to warmer climates in the south. The starlings
have been coming to Italy for centuries. In
ancient Rome, the augers, or priests and
officials, were called upon to interpret the will
of the gods by studying their formations.
During the day, the shiny dark-feathered
starlings feed in rural areas before heading
back to roost in the city whose lights protect
them from predators and where temperatures
are generally warmer. Ornithologists theorize
that the birds flock together to protect
themselves from their main predators of
hawks and falcons but also for warmth and
company as they prepare to roost.
These tiny birds, which measure up to 8
inches in length, are highly organized and
as they take to the skies they come together
in an enormous cloud of whirling wings as
they spread out. Their movements are as
coordinated as a military flyover, and they
anticipate each other’s moves as they fly
in different directions and then suddenly
come back together as though the wind is
separating them and then bringing them back
into one entity. Their reaction time is said
to be 13 times faster than a human as seen
when one bird changes direction and just a
second later the closet birds to that one will
follow their path.
Their intricate and sudden swirls and
swoops seem synchronized and uniform
as each starling will align with seven others
and coordinate their flight formation. These
stunning aeronautics can last up to an hour
and are a delight for tourists but not so much
for residents.
As one can imagine, with such large
numbers flying over city streets and
monuments, they are dropping a great mess
below them. Estimates are that each one
produces 40 grams of guano daily, which is
not quite up there with the daily ton of waste
produced by the pigeons of St. Mark’s in
Venice but is just as problematic.
This is not only unpleasant to people
walking below them (you will often see
residents walking with umbrellas during
the swarming), but their waste corrodes
monuments, makes roads and walkways
slippery and requires continuous cleaning to
mitigate damage and prevent accidents.
There have been various attempts
to disperse the flocks with teams of
environmental department workers spreading
out across cities with bullhorns, recorded
sounds of distressed starlings, flashlights, and
other measures in an effort to split the flocks
into smaller groups. Despite all these issues
the arrival and aerial display these tiny birds
bring over the skies of Italy remain one of the
world's greatest natural phenomena.
Sometime around March, after
approximately five months in Italy, the
majority of the starlings will take to the vsky
once more and head back to their breeding
grounds in Scandinavia, leaving only a small
population of birds behind. IAH