Bedlam in Birdland

Oh my goodness - the mornings around here have been bedlam. What is going on with the birds? They make the most astounding racket all morning long starting at dawn. They babble, clamor, caw, call, chirp, twit, cry, drum, squawk, tweet and twerp. There is a cacophony of chatter, clatter, clicking, rustling and fussing around in what sounds like general pandemonium out there in the trees.

So why have they been so noisy all spring? Because they've been trying to attract mates and, at this point, are probably defending their nests and territory. Suddenly it all makes sense. Don't we humans act like total idiots when we're either ridiculously and irrationally in love or at a senseless border war with one another?

In time, thankfully and mercifully, there comes July when most baby birds have fledged and their parents are too busy feeding and teaching them how to survive to be hanging out singing and preening. In fact, those species that raise only one family a year may stop singing altogether. Others have a brief resumption of song to help teach their young ones the local dialect. Eventually however, and one by one, each species drops out of the spring chorus altogether until by late July only a handful of birds are still singing at all.

As much as I adore my fine feathered neighbors and look forward to hearing them every morning - they are after all, the harbingers of my favorite time of the year - it will be those attractive, alien-like, green foam earplugs for me until the end of July.

Bedlam in Birdland • 8" x 8" pen and ink framed to 12" x 12" • $200