The Sky-High Mob Over Rome

ROME, Nov. 17, 2008 -- The autumn skies of Rome at dusk belong to the starlings.

Lifting off from their plane-tree roosts along the Tiber river, they slowly gather. A small flock flies about and is joined by another small flock. Yet another joins them, and then another and they become a sky-high mob.

Seen from a roof terrace in central Rome, they resemble circus acrobats warming up for their finale with somersaults and arching pirouettes. They are their own amusement park ride, dipping and soaring with switchbacks and loop de loops.

Hundreds and then gusts of thousands glide over the domes and antennaed rooftops. Sometimes, when the birds fly low enough, you can hear the whoosh and a faint murmuring as they pass overhead. They seem to be heading for a certain somewhere until they veer off in another direction entirely.