Boids & Starlings

A murmuration is the swirling, shape-shifting flight of thousands of starlings at dusk. No leader directs them; coherence emerges from each bird reacting to its closest neighbors.

This simulation uses Craig Reynolds' boids algorithm. Each agent follows three rules:

1. Separation (avoid crowding)
2. Alignment (match neighbor heading)
3. Cohesion (steer toward neighbor center)

Real starlings track ~7 nearest neighbors regardless of distance: topological, not metric. That fixed count is why turning waves cross the flock so fast and stay crisp at any density.