Carkeek Pt. 1: Murmurations

I recently went to Carkeek Park...one of my all time favorite parks in Seattle. The park has everything! Water, hiking trails through woods, fruit orchards, grassy areas for picnics, a playground for the little ones and a stream and wetland area. It is the best!

At the grassy/playground area, there is a man who is often parked there who is famous among the Seattle children: Bubble Man! He makes giant bubbles for all the children to delight over. While I was at Carkeek, Bubble Man was talking about how a group of starlings is called a murmuration. He was charmed by this name, as am I! It sounds so beautiful. It needs to be the name of a band, in particular a sad folksy band led by a woman.

Starlings and their murmurations are not the only time I've been charmed by the name of a group of animals. I've done an internet investigation to discover more strange and beautiful names for groups of animals:


  • A group of cats is called a clowder. This one gave me another idea for a band name: The Glowering Clowder. Their band logo could be a picture of an angry cat. They would definitely be a playful but rowdy punk band. 
  • A group of elephants is called a parade. 
  • A group of baboons is called a troop. This makes me think of a bunch of baboons in girl scouts uniforms.
  • A group of bats is called a cloud.
  • A group of hippos is called a thunder. So if you had a group of hippos mingling with a group of bats, you would have a thunder cloud.
  • A group of hyenas is called a cackle. 
  • A group of squirrels is called a scurry. 
  • A group of cheetah's is called a coalition. 
  • A group of zebra's is called a dazzle. 
  • A group of turkeys is called a posse. This is so awesome because turkeys always seem a bit goofy but I think of posse as a way to describe a group of really cool people. Now i have an image in my mind of a bunch of turkeys with sunglasses and faux leather jackets.
  • A group of seals is called a bob.
  • A group of peacocks is called a muster. 

Here are some pictures I took of the beach while at Carkeek. There were a lot of crows on the beach the day I went to Carkeek. In this first picture, you can see them, a murder of crows all on the beach together. The majestic black birds are scavenging between the sea rocks in search of something delicious. 












Sources for animal group names:

Mclendon, Russel. "99 Strange Collective Animal Names." MNN. Mother Nature Network, 3 June 2013. Web. 14 Apr. 2016. <http://www.mnn.com/earth-matters/animals/blogs/99-strange-collective-animal-names>

"Animal Groups." Animal Groups. The All Mighty Guru, n.d. Web. 14 Apr. 2016. <http://www.thealmightyguru.com/Pointless/AnimalGroups.html>
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Carkeek Pt. 2: Washed Ashore

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Ghosts, Pt. 2: Lil' Ghost