The mathematicians amongst us will have worked out that if my guestimates of time seen and distance travelled were correct these would most certainly have been the fastest Starlings on the planet! Internet research says they're flight speed is between 37-37 mph.
However they were flying very high( and were well out of sight before the last appeared) and, in my experience over the last 9 years or so, They only seem to do this on clear evenings in the very early days of winter migration (around the end of October and early November), which makes me wonder, was this a contingent of the remainder of birds people seem to be expecting, given the sudden severe cold snap which has arived on the East side of the country.
I have no idea of how to go about counting this number of birds, but if I had to put my money where my mouth is I'd say upwards of 300,000.
David, Felinfach
I WILL get this right 37-47mph for Starlings., Sorry folks
David