the arabesques and the nightmare of the starlings in Rome

Every evening at dusk, the ballet begins again: in the sky of Rome (Italy)swarms of starlings fly in squadrons. They would be between 500,000 and one million at the start of 2022. By reflex, the birds form the most compact mass possible to discourage predators, like schools of fish facing a shark. Except that, every evening, tons of droppings fall from the sky.

To disperse the birds, a specialized brigade protected by full gear uses loudspeakers which broadcast shrill noises three times a week. “It’s a call that starlings naturally use to warn each other of danger. It’s a disturbing but harmless method”explains Valentina Di Tommaso, ornithologist. The objective is for the starlings to return to settle a little further, in the surrounding countryside as in the past, before global warming disrupts the migratory corridors.