At the personal level, it’s been a very busy day at work, and, now that it’s finally over, I can start on the workday tasks with which I had intended to begin it with.
Basic models of flocking behavior are controlled by three simple rules: 1) separation: avoid crowding neighbours (short range repulsion); 2) alignment: steer towards average heading of neighbors; 3) cohesion: steer towards average position of neighbors (long range attraction). With these three simple rules, the flock moves in an extremely realistic way.