All About Birds

Men have held a fascination with birds for a very long time. To us, humans, bird watching activity comes naturally. In general, we are a nation of wildlife lovers; and everyone has an extra love feeling for birds. What is so special and unique about birds? For different people, there are different answers. For some, watching birds in a natural habitat is an effective and reliable way to gain perspective and relieve stress. To others, they are so magical. They are interesting to watch because they are beautiful, inspiring, and fascinating. Birds are cheery and lovable. Birds make life beautiful. Their songs wake us up and put in a great mood. Birds songs are one of the most beautiful sounds in the nature. Not everyone knows, only male birds are singing. Unlike instinctual calls, the complex pitch, rhythm, and structure of true bird songs must be learn in early life. To attract the mate, a male bird calls other birds from the forest. Some birds like parrots or superb lyrebird know how to imitate voice and sounds. Captive birds have been recorded not only the owners’ talk but also the ability to mimic the ‘industrial’ sounds of chain saws, car alarms, and camera shutters.

2018 Year of Birds

One hundred years ago, the staggering destruction of birdlife caused by the plume trade spurred the passage of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, one of the earliest environmental laws passed anywhere in the world. While fashion trends have changed, the law remains as important as ever. Birds now face 21st-century threats – gas flares, oil spills, oil waste pits, transmission lines, wind and power turbines and more. The act has been used to help reduce those impacts and to implement practice that saves birds’ lives. The National Geographic magazine, National Audubon Society, the Cornel Lab of Ornithology, and BirdLife International joined together forces and resources with more than hundred other organization and millions of people around the world to celebrate 2018 Year of Bird.

In the book When Women Were Birds: Fifty-Four Variations on Voice, author and environmental activist Terry Tempest Williams wrote, “Once upon a time, when women were birds, there was the simple understanding that to sing at dawn and to sing at dusk was to heal the world through joy. The birds still remember what we have forgotten, that the world is meant to be celebrated.” (Tempest Williams, 2012)

"Chill Airs and Wintry Winds!"

"Chill airs and wintry winds! my ear

Has grown familiar with your song;

I hear it in the opening year,

I listen, and it cheers me long."

(Henry Wadsworth Longfellow)

Happy Holidays!
May poetry brings you cheers
and enrich your 2018 New Year!

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