A Little Background Music Please
It occurred to me the other day right out of the blue that wild bird sounds have been in the background for as long as I can remember. In the early summer mornings the ‘dawn chorus’ begged me to rise and start my day; in the fall, migrating geese sounded their honking calls back and forth overhead as they journeyed southward; in the wintertime the energetic chatting of the chickadees and the ‘chink-chinks’ of the woodpeckers filled the snowy air; and in the spring all manner of bird calls rose to echo and perhaps catch the attention of a potential mate.
On and on it continues year after year, in one ear and out the other. Once in a while we might pause to realize the beauty and sounds that surround us daily, and nightly with the owls and night birds also sending their voices across meadows, forests and fields.
Interrupting the noise of the mechanical mayhem of airplanes, trains and automobiles are the sweet tweets of the wild birds. If I have stress, I look to nature for relief. Tension melts away when I take a walk and listen to the birds—really listen and actually be aware of their existence.
Ever notice how we humans seem to need music to keep us company, to get us through the day and night? Think about it—we get in the car and turn on the radio; come home and pop on the TV. There’s music playing in the grocery store, the Mall, in restaurants, even in elevators! It seems we hate to hear the deafening sound of silence.
Without most of us realizing it, birds have been the background music of the outside world. Not really appreciated by most and laboring in near obscurity, the wild birds have been there for us whenever we needed a cheerful chirp, or a flash of color. Without them we’d be neck deep in insects and all manner of creepy crawly things. There would be considerably less flowers in the world because the birds are important pollinators along with bees and other beneficial insects.
Trees and shrubs would be riddled with damaging insects like carpenter ants and termites, and would soon die off. Forests would disappear and weeds would quickly take their place, overrunning the countryside. Ponds, lakes, rivers and streams would be choked by noxious plants.
This old world would be a mighty dreary place without the variety of colors and their beautiful songs and cheerful cheeps, even if we only perceive them as white noise in the background. For humans the day is better with music. And for me the best music comes from the wild birds.
Do You Listen to the Background Music of the Birds?
And so I keep harping about not using toxic chemicals and pesticides and herbicides because of their huge negative impact on our environment, particularly our bird populations. They poison and kill off a major source of food for them, while polluting their and our precious water resources.
That is why I will continue to promote the appreciation of our backyard birds and encourage the creation of safe habitats, backyard feeding stations and clean water supplies. I want to always hear the comforting background music of the birds!