The answer to the everyday mystery of why birds flock together.

Why do groups of birds fly together? There are many benefits to flying as a flock and in specific formations. Working together, they can decrease the wind resistance caused by air travel. They take turns being in the front and breaking the wind for the other birds to fly smoothly.

There’s also the advantage of being able to avoid predators while flying as a group. While studying large flocks of starlings flying in thick formations, Paul Stancliffe of the British Trust for Ornithology said “… there is a huge swirling cloud. It’s all about safety in numbers – none wants to be on the outside, none wants to be first to land.” So the bird’s flight patterns become varied by one simple shift, each one wanting to be closer to the other.

Research from the University of Alberta in Canada indicates that a form of visual signal or sound being communicated by the animals can explain the synchronized flight patterns of birds, and also the movement of schools of fish.