This late May morning, before the sunrise, the world is clothed in birds. They swoop, argue in the brush, sing and chatter. They are everywhere in sound and flight.
Above my study, under the second-floor eave of the house, for the fifth year a pair of barn swallows raises out its noisy brood. The parents forage nonstop. Upon their return, they rest on a telephone wire forty feet out from the nest, before diving in to drop a beetle into waiting mouths.
Throughout the various barns and outbuildings of the farm, countless other pairs are likewise nested. Together they provide one of my great delights, as they follow the tractor, swooping in elegant patterns, for unlucky and outmaneuvered insects.
At one end of the front porch, a pair of house sparrows nests in a birdhouse Cindy created. On the other, a duo of cardinals has made a home in the crape myrtle, while further out, mockingbirds nest in the muscadine vines.
This season also brings us brown thrashers, bluebirds, blue jays, hummingbirds, with their magnificently constructed nests in the apple trees, mourning doves among the crabapples, bobwhites calling from the overgrown fenceline. And then there are the countless others that only Cindy recognizes: “Oh, my gosh! Out back, up by the blueberries, those are indigo buntings — the first ones I’ve ever seen!” “Look, out the window, quick! It’s … an American goldfinch, a pileated woodpecker, an Eastern kingbird, a Cooper’s hawk. Too late, it’s gone,” she says, both sad and pleased for having witnessed its presence.
Each spring morning, after an hour or two of owning this time, my daily ritual ends. The sun pushes aside the songsters’ trilling and chirping to take up its own dominion. In a sleight-of-hand, the intensity from the early morning is diminished, as if the sun exercises some curious power, by illumination alone, over this sound, moving the birdsong to the background.
A wonderful list. Audubon would have been pleased.
But no owls? The Cooper’s hawk may be dealing with too much of the owl prey, but as open as the countryside is there I would still imagine some owl habitat even with hawks for competition. Do you see many rabbits about? Perhaps too many foxes and coyotes keeping voles and rabbits scarce.
Come to think of it, I haven’t heard or seen an owl in some time myself. There is sufficient habitat (at least to my untrained eye) at the farm here for them. Have seen plenty of Red-tailed hawks here and the occasional Bald Eagle. But that seems to round up all the raptors in these parts.
Birdsong… Mother Nature’s symphony for the early riser. Bach and Beethoven had to write for those night owls too tired to rise early enough for her concerts.
I don’t see owls, Clem. But, we hear them quite often (plenty of birds didn’t make this piece that grace our farm on occasion).
Love the idea of the musical arts, in part, as an effort to recreate the beauty of what is missed. Thanks.
Thanks for a lovely post Brian. I love hearing bird song in spring! And you point out something I have noticed too, how the early morning song seems so loud but falls into the background or becomes more silenced by the midday sun. We had a pair of swallows that built their nest under the eves of our front porch. After a few years a second pair built another nest. I loved hearing the hungry babies and watching the parents frantically trying to feed them. When I mowed the lawn the swallows would swoop behind me going after insects I stirred up. I appreciated all the mosquitoes they ate keeping the population in check around our home. At night the bats would come in and eat their share too. Our new home is surrounded by woods and I often hear a couple of different owls. I see hawks diving after baby rabbits and chipmunks that venture out from the woods across the lawn. I stock the bird feeder with sunflower seeds and love to watch the many types of woodland birds that come to feed along with Indiana’s state bird the cardinal, my favorite bird. I also love the hummingbirds that come to visit the blossoms in my flower garden. Something about sharing our world with birds, butterflies, dragonflies, etc.. that makes life so much nicer!
Last week we saw a couple of tortoises making their way across the lawn and driveway. I suppose they are laying their eggs and think of the road as the demarcation line the beach represents. I hate seeing them crushed on the road and I often stop and make sure they make it across safely. I’ve also seen more snakes, frogs, and toads this spring. This is our third year in our new home and unlike the previous owners we don’t apply any chemicals to our lawns and gardens. Just old fashioned hand weeding for me! I’m not sure if this is what is improving their population but I’ll take it as a good sign!
Jody,
’tis the season of turtles crossing the road, I too am a stopper and a helper when they are spotted mid-migration. And, we also, humbly, think our soundscape has increased due to our efforts to maintain and expand habitat. Good for you!
Thanks as always for checking in and commenting.
Brian
the tallest panicles
in my unmowed meadow
have reached six feet
late May
and are
rocked hard by chickadees
who have seen
the last storm not finishing
the job of flattening every blade
and
quiet and modest people that they are
offered to help
Do they share the harvest?
They do not. I’ve been telling them about the advantages the living mulch system will have, but they say they prefer their grass to be outside the garden fence, and to be tall and seedy. Doesn’t reflect well on them.
The slugs were not pleased with the squash seedlings and have removed them during quality control. I promised to reseed and this time take care of the weather conditions being correct.
Those slugs. A bit of beer in a saucer is supposed to help, but I never seem to have any left over beer. 🙁
But so long as we’re talking up birdsong, and you have chickadees in the meadow, perhaps next you might invite some song thrushes… which apparently work in the UK:
https://www.saga.co.uk/magazine/home-garden/gardening/advice-tips/pests/controlling-slugs-and-snails
When them pesky ol slugs creep in near
I’ve heard to lay out a saucer of beer.
But better perhaps than such brushes
A gaggle or flock of song thrushes
Might put our gardener in good cheer.
One wonders if escargot prices merit slug collections from the garden??
Orion in the East shimmers dear
when Arion vulgaris creeps near
gets her blue pellet shot
on arrival while it’s hot
then the squashbug his laughter you hear
The slugs were right to remove them: They sense when a plant is unhappy.
At least here they do perform a role in an ecosystem, but population control is still on the list because slug-eating wildlife is still not abundant. Have seen a pair of thrushes, toad, grass snake, ground beetles, leopard slugs.
Cloudy break of day
A translucent slugs oozes
betrayed by the beer
Nice new header pic. The curious lamb – the setup for a Wodehouse story? From Pig-hoooowey, to the Lamb who came to the cell phone…
…aaand I just had to start reading ‘Uncle Dynamite’.
Michael,
I was late to Ickenham. But, he is among my favorites.
Clem,
He did reference a Melonsville, TN. I regret not naming the farm or the blog after that imaginary locale.
Russ Meyer and you both regret not using it.
I’m hopeless with reading W. in the proper order; ‘Uncle Dynamite’ I chose simply because I remember it as the funniest W. audiobook adaptation of them all.
“The short, quick, gulping grunt, like that of a bulldog kicked in the ribs while eating a mutton chop…”
Poor Bill.