SheWrites Video Moment #10: Murmuration

A few weeks ago, in the midst of #OWS, a video crossed my path which startled the frameworks of beauty, especially for a viral clip....Here was an extraordinary phenomenon of starlings in wave formations traversing the sky, captured in Ireland by Sophie Windsor Clive and her friend Liberty Smith. The video has had over 6.4 million views on Vimeo (an alternative site to YouTube), been featured on major news networks and flown across the blog world and back again.

"Murmuration" describes a flock of starlings, but is a simultaneous instance of onomatopoeia and iconicity....take a look and take an in-breath.

--Kathleen Sweeney creates video art, web content, and tracks viral media. Check out www.theviralmedialab.org....

Tags: Ireland, iconicity, murmuration, onomatopoeia, poetics, starlings, video

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Comment by Kathleen Sweeney on December 7, 2011 at 12:56pm: Yes! If it weren't for the "you are there" quality of this video, you'd almost think it was special effects...

Comment by Wendy Howard Schwarz on December 6, 2011 at 6:23pm: I've seen flocks in synchronized waves, but never like this!!! It's so inspirtational!

Comment by Caryl on December 6, 2011 at 5:47pm: Very cool video!

Comment by Kathleen Sweeney on December 4, 2011 at 10:35am: The visual phenomenon looks like special effects, doesn't it? Definitely took my breath away...