The morning symphony

Finishing up the taxes is always an anxious time of the year and as the deadline approaches, the mere thought is enough to induce sleepless nights, as was the case last night and this morning. As I lay in bed contemplating, then resolving to finish the project, I was entertained by a chorus of birdsong accompanied by various other urban sounds here and there.

We have a robin in our neighborhood who for the past few years has also suffered from insomnia, taxes too I suppose. He usually begins his solo performance around 1 AM, and continues periodically through the early morning hours. Today was no exception. This morning he was joined by his fellow robins around 4, when I was up for good. The robins had the floor to themselves for a good hour before the chirping of the House sparrows began. I thought that the robins had stopped but their song had simply been drowned out by the little birds. Eventually I could pick up the robins again as their lovely song created a nice counterpoint to the raucous sparrows. I noticed that something was missing from the mix, the normally reliable cardinals with their distinctive whistle. Sure enough, around 5:30 the cardinals took center stage, if only briefly. Soon all the other birds in the neighborhood including the ubiquitous starlings with their prolific repertoire of chirps, squawks and whistles joined in a crescendo of glorious song that all but drowned out the traffic noise. All the birds that is except for a crow who remained silent as I saw him perched on the ledge of the school across the way. He must have been taking it all in as I was. The glorious symphony culminated with a percussive clap of thunder, and then it was over, save for the chirping of a few sparrows, latecomers no doubt.

As it is still only early spring, many varieties of song birds have yet to arrive. When they do this relatively small classical ensemble of birds will become a full blown symphony orchestra.

But it was a very entertaining morning nonetheless, the birds made my otherwise tedious task a very happy one. Bravo.

As I write this, not to be outdone, the crow has just decided make his presence felt.