Friday, July 29, 2005
Sounds in the Country
Sounds cycle throughout a summer's day. Crickets, of course, are a general background drone just about any time of day. As dawn brightens, it is the birds that begin the day. Robins chirp as they announce they are leaving the roost to look for that early worm. As the day warms, it is the cicadas who seem to judge how hot the afternoon will become. The earlier their buzzing drone is added to the chorus, the hotter it will be. Sometimes they are rudely interrupted and you hear the rattle of their wings as they fly off in search of another perch.
In the evening, it is again the birds who dominate. Robins chirp. Wrens announce themselves and fuss at whatever has drawn their ire. Bull frogs will join in. Eventually they'll settle down. As it heads toward dark, the tree frogs will pipe in with their cacophony. Sometimes they will almost synchronize into a pulsing rhythm only to diverge into chaos. Occasionally, the night will be interruped with the coughing barks and almost human sounding cries of a fox, or the hoots of an owl. Cats can be counted on to be the loudest and most disharmonious of the night sounds, but fortunately, it's not every night.
But, of all the sounds, there is that one interval in the wee hours of the morning, before the first hints of dawn, when everything seems to hold its breath. Even the crickets seem tentative, as if they judge that too much noise might attract the skunk, raccoon, 'possum or another something that would eat them. This is the wonderful, quiet sound (or lack thereof) of the anticipation of another summer day.
In the evening, it is again the birds who dominate. Robins chirp. Wrens announce themselves and fuss at whatever has drawn their ire. Bull frogs will join in. Eventually they'll settle down. As it heads toward dark, the tree frogs will pipe in with their cacophony. Sometimes they will almost synchronize into a pulsing rhythm only to diverge into chaos. Occasionally, the night will be interruped with the coughing barks and almost human sounding cries of a fox, or the hoots of an owl. Cats can be counted on to be the loudest and most disharmonious of the night sounds, but fortunately, it's not every night.
But, of all the sounds, there is that one interval in the wee hours of the morning, before the first hints of dawn, when everything seems to hold its breath. Even the crickets seem tentative, as if they judge that too much noise might attract the skunk, raccoon, 'possum or another something that would eat them. This is the wonderful, quiet sound (or lack thereof) of the anticipation of another summer day.
