Starling cemetery

I had been told about it, but didn't really believe it. Supposedly, all the starlings of Torshavn gathered in the old cemetery every night and then flew to Nolsoy to picnic.

The last couple of months, I've passed the old cemetery on my way to and from work. In the morning there are hardly any birds there at all, although there are plenty of trees, which usually attracts the little flyers. In the evening, the place is packed with them. One evening last week when I passed the cemetery, the trees were almost covered with starlings, all facing the same direction and singing loudly. Just as I passed under one of the higher trees, there was a sudden silence. Just half a second. And then they were aloft. All of them. Tens of thousands, probably. The time was 18:20.

First, they flew in direction of Torshavns central square, Vagli. Or maybe it was Hotel Hafnia or Amtmanshavin, it was hard to judge from a distance. Then they turned right, and headed straight to Nolsoy, the picturesque island facing Torshavn.

They do it every evening this time of the year. I don't know, however, whether they return later in the night or they spend the night in Nolsoy. As the days shorten, the time of the gathering - and the following departure - is getting earlier: a couple of weeks ago, the birds were still in the trees at 18:30, now the cemetery is deserted at 18:10.

I have to find out when the first birds come to the cemetery in the evening. It seems that it takes some time before they decide to take off. The days when I pass the cemetery early, they seem to be playing around, flying to and from neighbouring house roofs, for instance, while flocks of ten to a hundred starlings keep arriving from all directions. Right before take-off, they are all sitting in the top branches of the trees. All are singing but nobody moves. Beaks facing Nolsoy. Then the sudden silence and take-off. I didn't hear any cry, but someone must have given the signal: GO!

I've seen larger flocks of starlings in Denmark, where they call these gatherings 'sort sol' (black sun), because the birds are able to cover the sky in their sheer quantity. However, there, the phenomenon can be explained with the starlings gathering before flying south for the winter. The Faroese starlings don't fly south, so why do they do this? For the company, getting that kick that humans pursue in soccer stadiums? Mating is out of the question: we are in October. I guess it is their biological watch that tells them that it's about to be flying time, although they haven't been abroad for generations. The rest of the year, they allegedly don't gather like this.

I would like to post a photograph here, but it's hard to capture the situation, so here is one of Ole Wich's impressive starling pictures: