STARLINGS : LEAFLETS
Tristram's grackle is a species of starling native to the Middle East. This bird is found in deserts and nests mainly on rocky cliff faces.
Israeli occupational forces have airdropped leaflets throughout the Gaza Strip to warn densely populated neighborhoods of Israeli invasion.
An adult male starling is on average 8.5 inches long (including a 3.5 in tail), with a wingspan of 13 inches, and a weight of 120 grams - about equivalent to a handful of strawberries.
In Gaza, the airdropped leaflets are about 8.5 x 5.5 inches.
Starlings have black feathers of a purply-green sheen, with gleaming white flecks.
Leaflets contained various evacuation messages in Arabic with map graphics of where to flee to, QR codes leading to the IOF website, social media "mugshots" of Palestinian hostages, cryptic Quranic passages, and messages about Ramadan and fasting.
Murmuration occurs in late autumn through late winter.
The leaflets were dropped periodically from October 2023 to March 2024. While the phenomenon of airborne leaflet propaganda has been used throughout war histories such as during Hiroshima and the Holocaust, Palestine is not new to this tactic- the IOF did the same in Gaza in 2009, 2014, and 2018.
At sunset, together, they form massive flocks made up of thousands of birds, swooping and swirling into spheres, planes and waves. The phenomenon is called a murmuration, and it's named after the noise made by the many flapping wings in flight.
Thousands of leaflets are dropped. All telecommunications have been severed in Gaza so the information to evacuate on these leaflets are crucial.
When in flight, each starling matches their movements to the birds surrounding it. If one starling changes its flight direction or speed, the birds around it mimic the change. This change spreads throughout the group and creates the patterns of the murmuration. A starling flies at around 45 kilometres per hour.
Paper falls and rises in a seemingly chaotic manner. As they fall, air swirls up around their edges, which makes them flutter and tumble. Because the flow changes dramatically around the sharp edges of the leaves of paper, it makes the prediction of the falling trajectory a challenge.
The phenomenon most likely occurs as a means of communication amongst starlings to keep them safe from predators and to find food.
The IOF claims this is proof of a humanitarian effort to warn citizens of attacks. However, as most Palestinians fled to the suggested areas later to be attacked there, this suggests leafleting is a psychological warfare tactic.