Birdsong is good for you

Winter, pandemic, no footy, social distancing, self-isolation, no toilet paper, kids home all day, working from home ….

Spending time connecting with the natural world is the ideal antidote to the stresses of modern life, particularly in these trying times. The restorative benefits of listening to birds has been well documented (BBC News Magazine) – birdsong is good for you!

(Click on the links to hear the birds laugh, screech, whistle and sing)

Birds sing for many reasons and most species have several different calls. The Kookaburra’s familiar ‘laugh’ is apparently a declaration of territory. They often call from the same trees on the border of their favourite patch of bush or parkland.

Excitable Rainbow Lorikeets will screech as they fly on to their next source of flowering trees or shrubs in a search for their diet of nectar. To wake each morning to the sonorous song of a Grey Butcherbird can set your mood for the rest of the day and Willie Wagtails will often begin calling before dawn.

Our busy, noisy urban lifestyle often means that the sounds of nature are missing but if we take a moment or two throughout the day it often isn’t hard to hear a bird. Try taking your daily walk sans earplugs and you will hear natural sounds that are capable of transporting you to a different, more relaxing world.

Our birds are threatened by climate change, urban development, pollution, habitat loss, pesticides and other human-related factors. To make the connection between our own future on this planet and the future of birds and other animals, has never been so important.

“You’ve had a good day in the bush when you hear a Golden Whistler” – Duncan Fraser. The plain-looking Grey Shrike-thrush has one of the most pleasant and evocative calls of the Australian bush. To hear a Spotted Pardalote calling from the canopy and to wonder at its visual beauty is a delight so easy to achieve in the streets and parks of our town. Can anyone deny that a carolling Magpie is deserving of so much celebration in literature and music? (And, just for fun, here’s a link to a You Tube video of Magpies singing to a mouth organ)

Birdsong is not only uplifting it is also an alarm call from nature that needs heeding.