Hawk

Hawks and falcons serve as the predators that exert selection pressure on flocking behavior in starlings and other prey species. When hawks attempt to attack starling murmurations, they experience predator confusion - the rapid, synchronized movement of thousands of birds creates visual confusion that makes it difficult to track and target any single individual.

This predator-prey dynamic has driven the evolution of coordinated movement in prey species. The anti-predator benefits of flocking (motion camouflage, dilution effect, many eyes effect, coordinated evasion) outweigh the costs (competition for food, increased disease transmission), making coordinated movement adaptive. Hawks retreating from murmurations, unable to target individuals, demonstrate the effectiveness of distributed coordination as a collective defense strategy.