I watched as the flock of starlings flew overhead, doing aerobatic movements, dipping, diving, twisting and turning in unison. I have always wondered how they keep from running into each other.

I once read in a Missouri Conservation Magazine that a tight flock of birds is called a creche. Since I had never heard this usage of the word, I checked the dictionary, where I read that the definition for creche was the representation of the Nativity scene; and chiefly British, a foundling hospital or a day nursery.

Then, I looked for the word creche in my Audubon Society Encyclopedia of North American Birds, where it stated that creche was the term used for an aggregation of the young of certain colonial nesting birds. For example, some penguins, terns and flamingoes gather a few days after the hatching of their young, at which time they are fed by the parent birds.

At one time, it was thought that the young were fed indiscriminately by many adult birds, rather than by the parents alone. However in a study of the emperor penguins and flamingos, it was discovered that the parents usually fed only their own offspring and not the young of other birds. This apparently assures that the largest and most aggressive young in the creche do not crowd out the smaller and weaker birds, because if they did, the weaker birds would die of starvation.

The chicks of the royal terns also gather in a creche, to which the parents return with food to feed them. The parents recognize their own chicks by their calls.

To make matters more confusing, I saw a photo of a flock of starlings in a newspaper with the caption, “A murmuration of starlings is seen in the sky on Sunday as the sun sets above Gretna, Scotland. The flocks of starlings wheeled and turned in beautiful aerobatic displays across the evening sky.”

The word murmuration was neither listed in my bird book nor dictionary. The closest word I found was murmur, which means a low, indistinct sound; continuous sound or a mumbled complaint. Then, I looked in my Handy Science Answer Book, by the Technology Department of the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, PA, where it states that a group of starlings is known as a chattering or murmuration.

I now know that the word murmuration when used for a flock of starlings comes from the fact that the birds’ chirping (when flying) makes an indistinct sound; hence, murmuration comes from our word murmur.

Most people refer to a group of birds as a flock. Although our word flock is used specifically for a flock of geese, it is now used by ornithologists for an aggregation or congregation of birds in general. For example, one can see a flock of red-winged blackbirds, in which the flock consists of one species, or a “mixed flock” of birds, that could be composed of red-winged blackbirds, grackles, starlings or other species of birds that have joined together.

No matter what we call a flock of birds, we are in awe when watching a flock of birds do their synchronized moves without running into each other. Have you ever gone to a football or baseball game and participated in doing the wave? It is believed that this wave maneuver demonstrates exactly how the birds in a flock do their maneuvers. The birds in front react quickly while the birds in back have more time to react, making it appear instantaneous.

These synchronized flights are not just for our pleasure. Ornithologists believe these flights are used to repel aerial attacks from predators. Flocks of birds such as ducks, geese and cedar waxwings, will bunch up when attacked in flight by a hawk. A peregrine falcon when attacking a flock of birds will try to separate a single bird from the flock, however, by flying in close formation and quickly changing directions, while keeping the flock intact, deters flying predators.

Because of its tremendous speed, the falcon will not dive through the flock due to inflicting damage to itself from birds striking the wings, head, etc.

Sportsmen have given the name of covey to a group of quail. A covey of quail applies this flock method but in a different way. When a predator or a hunter flushes a covey of quail the birds scatter in all directions, making it hard for either the predator or the hunter to single out one bird to concentrate on.

If unsuccessful, the whole covey will escape.

Humans have always been intrigued by our feathered friends. Hopefully when you see a flock of birds doing their twisting and turning, you will marvel at one of nature’s many grand shows.

Bill Bower is a retired Pennsylvania Game Commission Wildlife Officer. Read his blog and listen to his podcasts on the outdoors at www.onemaningreen.com.