In his column this week Charlie Fineran refers to that old saying, “Birds of a feather flock together”.

The saying noted above originally had nothing to do with birds or animals. It is actually an old English proverb meaning people will sort themselves into communities of like-minded individuals.  But it certainly also encompasses the same theory/concept about wildlife.  Having said that, my initial Photo of the Week article was going to be about Starlings (the bird).  A couple of days ago, early in the morning, I awoke to quite a chatter. My two cats, usually sprawled across the bed when I awake, were standing on their hind legs looking out the window!!  My house was surrounded by a huge flock of starlings.  I fed the cats amid all the commotion, and it dawned on me, this might be a good photo of the week and article.  

Got dressed and got to the car to get my camera AND, Where did they all go??!!  OK plan B, I have some photos of various flocks of starlings, and I’ll craft a story around that.  A couple of days later, it is Saturday, March 20^th first day of Spring and I am beginning to write my story and the first thing I do is to check on the definition of a flock.  FOLKS, it was all downhill from there!!!  A VERY INTERESTING DOWNHILL!!  BUT my entire story changed from a Flock of Starlings, to What is a Flock?? 

Here is the rest of the story.

I really hate to begin with a question!!!  BUT/ALAS!!!

QUESTION:  What is a flock?

ANSWER:  A flock is a gathering, of a group, of same species in animals, in order to forage or travel with one another.

NOTE:  I ‘kinda’ always associated flocks with THE BIRDS!  BUT NOW, after getting the definition of a flock, seeing it also applies to animals, I headed back to the internet, to get some examples of Animal Flocks!?  WHO WOULDA THUNK!?  I had no clue!

“STOP THE PRESSES!!”  We need to put things into perspective before continuing!

FLOCK is THE very general term or definition covering ALL types of gatherings of a group of animals, Avion (bird) and Animals, including ALL types of Animals including fish, insects or whatever!!  Now, within that overall ‘Flock Concept’ there are multitudes of assigned names to these ‘Specific Flocks’!!

NOTE#2:  During my travels on the internet, I am starting to see names, MANY NAMES, for the various groups of animals!!  These are names that I had always associated those animals with!!  Now I know why I was initially so confused and off course!  Two things, one was my ignorance to the fact the word flock covered more than birds!!  The second was that flock is such a general word, applying to ALL ANIMAL GROUPS and then you break those animal groups down at which time the general concept of flock is then assigned a specific name!!  Here are some examples following.

NAMES FOR GROUPS OF BIRDS

There are several collective names can apply to all bird species, such as flock, colony, fleet, parcel and dissimulation (where a word can change its meaning to become dissimilar)  Here are some more common flock names applied to birds including cloud, mass, collection or just plain group or throng.

IN FACT: ANY generic name for a large group, whether it is people, animals or birds could be applied to a flock.  Birders, however, knew there are unique and distinctive names for specific bird flocks.

SPECIAL FLOCK NAMES

When a flock consists of just one type of bird or closely related species of birds, special terms are used to describe the group.  A sampling of them include: 

Birds of Prey (Hawks-falcons) – cast, cauldron, kettle
Eagles – convocation, congregation, aerie
Turkeys – rafter, gobble, gang, posse
Owls – parliament
Penquins – colony, huddle. 

And that’s just examples of birds! 

Ant – Colony
Ape – Shrewdness
Baboons – Troop
Bacteria – Culture
Bass – Shoal
Bear – Sleuth or Sloth
Beaver – Colony
Bee – Swarm, grist or hive
Deer – herd

… and the list goes on. You can search the internet for more!

RESEARCH NOTE:  The how and why behind these collective behaviors have long stumped scientists.  This kind of coordinated movement relies on incredible communication between members, figuring it out has not been an easy task.  Now scientists are getting some insight into collective behavior by studying the schooling of fish.  Using high-speed video and motion-tracking software to better understand what’s going on in the water, the new research may reveal a lot about the evolution of synchronized behavior across the animal kingdom.

A link to my Flickr Collections: flickr.com/photos/charliefineran/collections

Charlie Fineran is Allamuchy’s Director of Open Space, Allamuchy Township Environmental Commission Chairman and Allamuchy Historical Society President.