Sunday, September 18, 2005
The Birds' Secret
Birds hav
e been singing since the beginning of time, and since that time, we humans have been listening to them, albeit ignorantly, and enjoying the beautiful music they make. Little did we know, their songs really are complex songs. I read this article and was taken aback by it yesterday evening. I was fascinated that, once again, God shows his incredible creativity by giving birds these harmonic forms of communication. We tend to go about assuming that God only gave the gifts of complexity and communication to us, but that is erroneous thinking, proven wrong, once again, by the efforts of science. (I have great respect for the scientists whose work it is to find out how nature works. What a cool job that must be!)
This morning I was relaxing with my java, having opened the sliding glass door to let in the morning air, and I heard what proved to be the most beautiful birdsong I've heard here in Texas, and believe me, the birds here are fabulous! This one, I think, must have been a finch or some such little happy thing. It, alone, sat on a limb in a tree opposite my window, and sang a song in the form ABACABA. I was convinced of it! For those of you who know anything about musical forms, this is quite a feat for humans. I couldn't believe my ears and must have sat listening to it for twenty minutes. There were no other birds singing, no replies, no echos, no chattering, yet, there it was, repeating itself over and over in this little natural symphony, giving it's all. I would love to believe that this was the morning "Concert in the Air", featuring the famous Finch Tenor, Placido Flamingo. There really is life outside of humans!
e been singing since the beginning of time, and since that time, we humans have been listening to them, albeit ignorantly, and enjoying the beautiful music they make. Little did we know, their songs really are complex songs. I read this article and was taken aback by it yesterday evening. I was fascinated that, once again, God shows his incredible creativity by giving birds these harmonic forms of communication. We tend to go about assuming that God only gave the gifts of complexity and communication to us, but that is erroneous thinking, proven wrong, once again, by the efforts of science. (I have great respect for the scientists whose work it is to find out how nature works. What a cool job that must be!) This morning I was relaxing with my java, having opened the sliding glass door to let in the morning air, and I heard what proved to be the most beautiful birdsong I've heard here in Texas, and believe me, the birds here are fabulous! This one, I think, must have been a finch or some such little happy thing. It, alone, sat on a limb in a tree opposite my window, and sang a song in the form ABACABA. I was convinced of it! For those of you who know anything about musical forms, this is quite a feat for humans. I couldn't believe my ears and must have sat listening to it for twenty minutes. There were no other birds singing, no replies, no echos, no chattering, yet, there it was, repeating itself over and over in this little natural symphony, giving it's all. I would love to believe that this was the morning "Concert in the Air", featuring the famous Finch Tenor, Placido Flamingo. There really is life outside of humans!
