Columbia is located right in the middle of an “urban jungle”—but that just means that the sun is blocked by tall buildings rather than a lush canopy. The closest imitation we have to wilderness is the concrete criss-crossed Central Park; the most dangerous predator, the feral Milano cat. Here on campus, however, there is a somewhat more natural feature: myriad birds occupying one tree.

You may have never popped out your earbuds or even raised your eyes from the ground as you walked up campus past Buell Hall and St. Paul’s Chapel, but if you have, you should have noticed a startling amount of ornithological activity coming from the tree just in front of the chapel, on the left side of the courtyard when facing the doors.

This single tree houses the aggressive European starling, a species of bird which, according to local aviary expert James O’Brien, “band[s] together in large flocks to evade predators like red-tailed hawks and peregrine falcons.”

The starling is an invasive species that pushes out the native woodpeckers and bluebirds, and for that reason they’re considered pests. “Falcons and hawks love to eat them.” And so to stay away from Hawkma—always the public servant—the starlings hide in a tree. Together. All at once.

St. Paul’s tree, which is particularly lush, is a tempting roost for the starlings. According to O’Brien, the Starlings “like a tree with good leaf cover to hide them.” This specific tree, a Washington Hawthorn (Crataegus phaenopyrum) also produces a hard, red berry which birds love to eat.

Once snacking comfortably in their leafy home, they do what birds do best (besides pooping): chirping endlessly. Columbia students, long inured to sirens, trucks, and horns, often walk right by. But if you take the time to stop and listen, you can hear one of nature’s most disorganized and disruptive choirs.