Yale Ornithology Professor Richard Prum added that the flock may have been disturbed from its original spot for the night and so moved to a well-lit spot. … “So what I think may have happened is that a night roost was disturbed so that the birds left the roost in the dark. They might flock away at this point looking for a safe space. That could lead to birds flying down to the well-lit gas station. They are obviously not feeding on anything, so there is no real reason to be there except that it is well-lit and not too disturbed. So better than all the alternatives at that moment.”
UCLA Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Professor Thomas Smith pointed out that we often see the even spacing behavior when birds are perched on a wire. … “I don’t know why they’re on the ground; species such as these form communal roosts at night, but these are typically in trees — could they be confused by the bright lights of the gas station? They are not feeding… I don’t recall ever seeing this before.”
Above sourced from here.
