Our Changing World
Photo Credit: https://kevinscatalog.wordpress.com/2013/10/30/why-we-love-our-quail/
Spring is possibly my favorite season, at least during the season! (I honestly enjoy them all!) But there is something energizing and rejuvenating about being able to open my window and hear the sound of a chirping robin, the distinct sound of an oriole, the chatter of chickadees, or the mournful sound of mourning doves, a catbird or even the mocking bird and these are only a few!
So the enthusiastic comment made by a friend recently, completely resonated with me! “I just heard my first whippoorwill of the season just a few minutes ago! I LOVE that sound! We don’t hear them very much anymore,” she continued, “but I remember as a little girl when people didn’t have to worry about leaving windows up, with only a screen between you and the outside, after going to bed just resting quietly and listening as the whippoorwill’s sing! What an awesome sound. I miss those days,” she lamented.
Many seem to agree this is a sound worth hearing. Why? Is it because we can’t hear it anymore in many places? Is it comforting? What makes it so special? I can tell you, I know it makes me smile. One friend said the “lonesome sound” reminds her of her grandmother’s home. If we stop for a moment, most of us can relate to such stories. As children, we are fascinated by the birds of the air, especially when they sing their vibrant tunes or are building nests for their young ones. Another of my favorites includes the Bob White also known as Quail. There was just something magical about his sound…. He seemed to be saying his name: “Bob White!” I haven’t heard that sound is quite a long time, either.
Bernie Krause, a naturalist and musician using nature’s gift of sound, says our sounds are diminishing as the wild natural world, as we know it, continues to be depleted.1 There is very little habitat for our wild creatures which has not been somehow altered, or completely eliminated by man. It’s creating an eerie silence and if not curbed, will create a desolation we may never recover.
Maya Lin, the young woman who designed the Vietnam Veterans Memorial shares Krause’s view. In an interview in June 2012, she contends the changes are so subtle we don’t even realize the damage until it’s too late. According to her article statistics indicate a 70% drop in songbirds, and this isn’t the only species of natural wildlife being affected due to human interference. The pronghorn (which look a lot like an antelope) are down in number to 250,00 to their once 65 million count!1 And the gray wolf is being treated with care so they number nearly 3800. 2 And sea turtles? They are also endangered. When explorers first entered the Caribbean, there were so many sea turtles Christopher Columbus thought he’d run aground. 3 These are not isolated cases! Honey bees and Grizzly bears are also endangered; the Red Wolf and one site even included Hummingbirds! 4
So I challenge you this week to look at your world and then stop and be silent. Listen to the sounds of the birds around you. What is happening? Do you hear the same sounds you heard fifteen or twenty years ago? What can be done about it? Consider visiting some sites with specific information on how to help endangered species. It need only start with one!
1 http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2012/sep/03/bernie-krause-natural-world-recordings
2 https://www.fws.gov/midwest/wolf/aboutwolves/WolfPopUS.htm
3 http://e360.yale.edu/feature/maya_lin_a_memorial_to_a_vanishing_natural_world/2545/
4 http://a-z-animals.com/animals/endangered/
http://www.endangered.org/10-easy-things-you-can-do-to-save-endangered-species/
http://www.endangeredspeciesinternational.org/birds6.html
https://www.change.org/p/10-things-you-can-do-at-home-to-protect-endangered-species
https://www.fws.gov/endangered/esa-library/pdf/what_you_can.pdf