MUSIC OF THE NIGHT
In the summer
Our Groveland house sat
slightly uphill of a little creek and at night the air was filled with the
sound of the softly babbling creek together with a symphony of crickets and
frogs and owls hooting - maybe a dog barking in the distance?
In summer I’d lay in my
deck swing for a while, swinging gently back and forth as I listened to that
lovely cacophony of summer night music before heading for bed, and since our
bed sat under an open window, I’d continue to listen to nature’s wonderful
concert as I drifted off to sleep.
Also in the summer when we
lived in Oakhurst there was a large covey of quail numbering around 20 that came running down the bank behind our bedroom and into our yard every
morning just as it was beginning to get light. They were our musical wake-up call whether we wanted one or not.
Quail are interesting, by the way. The chicks are looked after not only by their mamas & papas, but also by their aunts & uncles & cousins. The covey is an extended family and they all look after one another.
Anyway,
just imagine the sound in the video multiplied by 20!
Quail finding their place on the musical scale
In the winter – both night & day
In the winter where we
live now when the wind blows in gusts, I hear it whistling around the corner of
the house and I love the sound – so long as I’m cozy and warm inside when I
hear it. J
:->
La Nightingail
Oh my, a bevy of Quails! I remember falling asleep in southern Illinois to the sound of Bob White, while I was in college (except in winter of course.)
ReplyDeleteBravo! This was another clever spin on our theme. The babbling brook (which I'm sure is only 60 seconds on a 10 hour loop) would drive me nuts thinking it was a leaking bathroom tap. I do like bird songs though those that are more vocal at night of very early can be a nuisance. We had chimney swifts one season that were so talkative in the morning that after they moved out I put a screen over the chimney. Of course I have played lots of music that imitates birdsong and animal noises. There are several horn parts that I'm sure are mimicking a frog, cow, or donkey.
ReplyDeleteBut my other musical instrument is the recorder and in my library I have a reprint of a 1717 English "song book" called "The Bird Fancyer's Delight". It has dozens of short melodies that were used to train common birds like starlings, woodlarks, bullfinches, etc. (and nightingales too). According to the instructions this was done by constantly playing a tune on a recorder to a captured bird, usually at night, until it learned to repeat it. A musician friend had an African grey parrot that did a passable version of Mozart's "Queen of the night" aria. And I was successful in teaching my son's pet cockatiel a little children's jingle. Birds are very talented and don't deserve that "bird brain" reputation.
Birds are very smart. I know. I've had several parakeets & now a little smarty-pants budgie who even 'scares' me a bit with his cognitive ability to understand what's going on! Plus he has a huge vocabulary of both words & mimicked bird sounds I've taught him. And then, of course, there is Ella. :) Her story is coming up soon beginning with February and the "Having Fun" theme. The story edited with additions to the original will be in 5 parts called "Having Fun with Ella, the Pigeon, & the Pigeon Whisperer" :))
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ReplyDeleteSome excellent nature sounds here! I am a city dweller, so my nearby sounds are urban: railroad, cars, nearby construction site, backup beepers, passing car radios. But I do have a mourning dove that regularly visits my fire escape -- often before sunrise -- and wakes me with its cooing. We've also had a revival of our urban crow population and they often gather for a chatty happy hour on the street side electrical wires. Just enough nature in an otherwise brick-and-mortar environment.