I saw this flock sitting along the wires and loved the sight of their collective silhouette against the cloud and light behind them. 

The resolution isn’t great because I was far away and had only my phone (instead of a better camera, story of my life). But I really liked the image and thought I’d share. 

Whenever I see a group of dark birds together like this, I pretty much assume they are starlings. We had a ginormous flock of starlings visit our neighborhood several years ago. Every tree, every bush was filled with birds. The “song” was deafening. The sidewalks were a mess afterward with the accumulated defecations of hundreds, if not thousands, of birds. Starlings are commonly considered pests in urban areas. They are not native to North America and were introduced when a fan of William Shakespeare (who mentioned starlings in his works) released about sixty birds in New York City’s Central Park in 1890. (Wikipedia article on the common starling HERE.)

Despite their dirty artifacts (as it were), starlings are so beautiful to watch in flight en masse! You can search online for video. Here’s a gorgeous one from National Geographic.