Last week, flocks of birds taking off in the early morning hours in Houston, Texas caused quite a stir on radar imagers. The phenomena was originally pointed out by users on Twitter, who noticed the fascinating images and discovered they were caused by avian flocks. Twitter users noticed the movement on the radar was in conjunction with the movement and activities of the bird flocks. Bill Forney, one of the aforementioned Twitter users says “The large population and high density of these beautiful-sounding birds is just fascinating. Watch as wave after wave of these birds took flight this morning.

The video was part of a second flight, during which time nearly the entire population of these birds left the roost.” The impact these flocks had on the radar was also noticed by KTRK-TV meteorologist Travis Herzog, while examining the Doppler radar. Herzog (via Twitter) pointed out how the ring seen growing on the radar represents a large flock of birds heading out for what he described as a “morning snack”. The video below shows these radar readings, and the on-screen anomalies these large swaths of birds caused.