Voices of Nature
Have you ever considered the many different sounds of nature? If not, I challenge you to embark on the journey to keep an open ear for the voice of nature. She speaks silent on the winter’s night and laughs with the crickets on summer’s eve. Her voice echoes in every season with a different tune.
It calls when dawn breaks the silence of night, and speaks gently at dusk when purple ribbons stretch across the lake. It roars with the storm, sings from the cedar capped in snow on a cold winter’s morning, and screams from the fox on the prowl. It sneaks through the brush at the rattle of the snake. To the one weary of winter, the voice of the cardinal sings a hymn of hope at the edge of spring.
The sounds of nature are varied, some subtle and others loud and boisterous. So peaceful is the voice of nature that sleep machines offer a myriad of options that sooth the mind and facilitate sleep. Even the wind has a rhythmic pattern that is affected by speed, direction, terrain and the temperature. It can create sounds that have a different frequency of pitch.
Speaking of the varied sounds of nature, Biologist Corey Callaghan claims in a paper with two other researchers at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia that there are some 50 to 428 billion birds across the earth. Imagine if we could hear the whole chorus sing simultaneously!
If you are interested in venturing on the journey to discover the voice of nature with her multitude of signals take a trip to your backyard. Take your smartphone or some other recording device, and capture the sound of the animals. Send the file to nprcrowdsource@npr.org, and use the subject line, Decoding Nature. That's the name of a series with the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Scientists will identify the exact species of animal you are hearing. You need to include your full name and where you live. To learn more about the project, follow the hash tag, #decodenature on Twitter.
There is a harmony of motion, a symphony, and cadence with all of nature. Every component of nature has a sound through which comes the song that brings peace to the troubled soul, clarity to the confused mind, and a hope that all will be well in the span of time. Amid the simple beauty of nature, many find a serenity and tranquility that is impossible to uncover in any other realm. I trust that you will watch and listen for the soothing ballads that only nature can play. For the bending ear will hear all of nature as she sings.