I’m a morning person. There is nothing quite like the first step out the back door and into the outdoors. The smell of freshness is pungent. The birds sing loudly. The day is new. And fresh.
I love leaving the house early and today was the same as usual. As I stepped outside just at dawn, one lone bird was caroling its love song to greet the day. “Cheer up, cheer up” the robin calls. Soon the rest of the dawn chorus will build in crescendo. Competing calls to announce the day bounce back and forth. The sparrows will also join in the fray. Spring is a beautifully loud and joyous time for the birds…and for me.
Why do birds sing? I know that science tells us that birds sing to warn other birds away from their territory: that both sexes of birds sing. The common thought is that birds sing to show their vitality and their energy. The dawn chorus of birdsong is always the most energetic and loudest; a time that generally is silent except for the singing of the neighborhood birds.
But a Dec 2020 study by a Cal Poly research team says there is more to birdsong that strikes deep in our psyche. The study looked specifically at the sounds of birds singing and its effect on people. Guess what they found! They concluded that avian sounds during hikes boosted people’s sense of wellbeing.
I already know that. And furthermore, I like to think that birds sing to celebrate their joy of being alive, their joy that morning has come. The day is soon to be here—and what better way to greet it than to sing!
I try to greet the day with similar sentiment. I know that the chorus of birds buzzing in melody is all a part of my morning celebration. Get up, greet the sun. Smile. Think good thoughts. And perhaps even sing my own song.
This month, I will celebrate the robins, the sparrows, the finches, the wrens, and all of the warblers who sing so apparently joyfully every single morning. When I listen for them, my heart always skips a beat when I hear their characteristic melody: a songbird which doesn’t seem to care a bit whether it’s tune is pretty or not. It sings anyway.
I’d like to think they have lessons for us all. Lessons of celebrating vitality and awe for the promise that dawn brings. The promise of the dawn chorus. And the promise of the day ahead.
(the photo was taken last May.. we aren’t quite “there” yet this spring.)
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