The Hills are Alive with the song of the Carolina Wren

When I am sitting at my writing table I am less than twenty feet from a bird feeder.  The birds don't seem to pay any attention and the feeder is generally busy with quite a variety of birds.  Today I was sitting at my writing table when my attention was caught by the most beautiful song.   I looked up to see a Carolina Wren sitting on the suet feeder singing its heart out.  The song was loud and strong and I'm sure it could be heard at quite a distance.  Watching the lovely bird feeding in our meadow somehow made me think of Julia Andrews singing "the hills are alive with the sound of music."  

    You know, a lot of people poke fun at that scene from the movie Sound of Music.  I really don't know why.  Besides being a magnificent setting, it is a nice song.  What made me think of the song was not only the Carolina Wren at our feeder but also a country song that I had just heard where it spoke of the mountain sky at night being black.  That song writer had never been in the mountains on a moonless night. The sky is a mass of stars. You can even see the Milky Way.  

    So what do these things have to do with each other?  They point to a sad reality.  It seems that so many people really don't see nature.  They don't hear the marvelous song of the wren because they don't get outside or those who do carry devices to play loud rock or rap totally covering up the sounds of nature.  There's no wonder so many believe there's nothing to hear in the wilderness.  They don't see the unbelievable night sky on a moonless night because they never get away from city lights so they assume that the sky in the mountains would be black.  When was the last time you saw someone stumble as they walked because they were looking up at the sky?  No, they probably stumbled because they were looking down at their cell phone.  

    The song writer for Sound of Music was right. The hills and indeed all of nature is alive with the sound of music.  It's there for you. You merely have to stop and look and listen.  Maybe a Carolina Wren will sing for you.  The sights and sounds of nature can revive you and give you hope. 

Picture: I didn't have a camera handy. Thanks for this pic to backyardbirdingblog.com  

#birds #environment  #oldconservationist