Dawn Chorus...

International Dawn Chorus Day: May 3, 2020 

Birds love a quiet daybreak, unfettered by noise pollution. With less traffic, bird song carries further through the air. And that's precisely the idea! It's all about being "heard".  

Deforestation is another reason birds move on to other locales. The forest creates a sort of "sound window" for song and chatter to glide onward to other birds. Needless to say, birds love a good sound window.   

Many will leave the city for quieter grounds, to a place where other birds can clearly discern their important messages. Messages like, "I've got food;" "I have a spiffy nest;" "Where are you?;" "I'm over here;" "My song is quite lovely;" "No, MY song is quite lovely;" "You're pretty;" "You're pretty too". 

Or something like that. 

International Dawn Chorus Day is always the first Sunday in May. The commemoration began in England in 1984, set forth by the Urban Wildlife Trust. It has since spread throughout the world. Birders and non-birders alike, are encouraged to step out an hour or so before day break to witness the symphony. 

But you don't have wait for Dawn Chorus Day, or feel as if you missed it, to revel in the chorus. Any spring or early summer morning will do. Oh, and be sure and come back at nightfall, when the birds sing and chitter-chatter a raucous "nighty-night."  

"I thought it was a diamond drop . . . but now I see it's not, not, not."  --a morning bird