murmurate

present singular third person murmurates · participle present murmurating · participle past murmurated · past murmurated

1. intransitiveOf starlings, to gather in large flocks at dusk.

   By dusk this murmurating cloud can number thousands or even millions of birds.

   2009, Daniel Butler, The mathematics of murmurating starlings, The Telegraph

   1 more example

   There's a glister of goldfinches, an exaltation of larks, a swoop of swallows, a chain of bobolinks, a scold of blue jays, a murmuration of starlings, which are at their best when they murmurate by the hundreds across a gray sky.

   2013, Ruth Bass, Word playing gives birds new nicknames, The Berkshire Eagle