Tuesday, February 9, 2021

Birdsong

 It was quiet on my walk this morning. Peaceful. 

Until I got partway through the walk. I had been aware of the birds--they are always chirping around here. Or honking (in the fall when the geese fly in huge flocks overhead) or cawing (when the black birds harass the deer and geese). But this morning, it began in the quiet way I always pictured when I sang the primary song: 

In the leafy tree tops, the birds sing good morning.

They're first to see the sun, they must tell everyone. 

In the leafy tree tops, the birds sing good morning. 

I was thinking of that song as I walked, listening to the birds chirp and tweet and thinking that I didn't have the leafy trees of the song, but I still had the morning birdsong. Suddenly, the song became a squabble. I don't know what else to call it. The birds were squawking and squeaking. I looked up, but I couldn't see them. There had to be a lot of them, but I could only see one on a rooftop. Then, I found a few in another tree, hidden among the leaves that still clung to the branches. As I looked, I could see a few birds here and there, but nothing to account for the racket. 

In a few minutes, they quieted. Whatever the fuss was, they had, apparently resolved it. I went back to humming my childhood song again as I walked. A soothing start to the day.