You incorrectly use the flocking of starlings in murmurations to illustrate the concept of 'active matter' in determining the physics of life (Nature 529, 16–18; 2016). This behaviour depends on information conveyed from individuals beyond a bird's immediate neighbours — unlike the spontaneous patterns formed in active matter from independently moving units.

In addition to information about the flight of their near neighbours, starlings use their location in the flock to adjust their murmuration behaviour (D. J. G. Pearce et al. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 111, 10422–10426; 2014). The flock provides this information by projecting a 'shadow' of its surrounding density on each bird's retina. This lets the starling know whether it is on the edge of the flock or not, and safe or not from predators.

The starlings' behaviour is more akin to the idea of reflexivity (see G. Soros J. Econ. Methodol. 20, 309–329; 2013). In reflexivity, individuals act in response both to the behaviour of those immediately around them and to the sociological effect of interacting as a collective entity — in this case, the flock. Like humans, a group of starlings seems to interact by using non-local sociological information to shape individual behaviour.