Wondrous Music, All Natural: The Miracle of the Songbird
Wondrous Music, All Natural: The Miracle of the Songbird.
“And God said, ‘Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures, and let birds soar high above the earth across the expanse of the heavens!’ So God created the great sea creatures and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarm, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was beautiful and excellent. And God blessed them, saying, ‘Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth!” (Genesis 1:20).
10 Common Backyard Bird Songs of the Eastern US
Mentioned over 300 times in Scriptures Old and New, it seems obvious that the Creator God has loved His fine-feathered friends from the very beginning. Let’s not forget God’s instructions to Noah included a special word for the birds… “Take seven of each kind of bird of the heavens, male and female, to keep their offspring alive on the face of the earth.” (Genesis 6:3). And to this day, birds are the only creatures that flourish on every continent. God’s instructions to Noah revealed that birds hold a special place in God’s heart, and He wanted all of them, every kind, to flourish. The unique connection between God and birds is a convincing argument that, no, the birds didn’t evolve from meat-eating dinosaurs. God had special plans in mind for His birds from the get-go. And it takes a greater leap of faith for me to think birds and all their complexity have evolved from dinosaurs than to simply believe that Creator God invented them in the first place. As the psalmist proclaims in Ps. 50:7,11, “Hear O My people, and I will speak… I know by name every bird flying over the mountains, and every animal roaming over the fields is Mine; they all belong to Me.”
Morning Bird Sounds | Real Bird Chirping for Relaxation, Meditation, Focus & Deep Sleep – YouTube
So why have such commonplace creatures like birds been so enthralling to us since ancient times? The sheer magnitude of varieties in the 18,000 species of birds boggles the imagination, for one thing. So many kinds of birds, so many unique qualities to each species. On the one hand, birds seem so vulnerable in the wilds of nature, and on the other hand they literally are above it all in their freedom of movement and escapability. Some sing, while others can only emit squeaks, squawks, whistles, gurgles, warbles, trills, rattles, or some other sound that can’t be described. They all, though, are uniquely designed with hollow bones, water-resistant feathers with a muscle at the base of each one, and can adapt to pretty much any kind of terrain and climate. But it’s the songbirds that command our attention, literally, don’t they? If St. Paul was right that “all of creation is groaning” as we await universal restoration (Romans 8), somebody forgot to tell the songbirds. They are groaning at all. They’re singing in full-throttled praise. Lament seems the last thing on the mind of the songbird.
Nature’s Miracle. There is something miraculous about one simple songbird being able to sing both melody and harmony at the same time! At the lightning-speed! There is something supernatural about the songbirds so naturally and perfectly combining beauty and function, a symphony of sound while at the same time attracting mates and protecting their turf. It seems highly improbable, except through divine intervention, that songbirds have developed the ability to rehearse their exquisite songs in their sleep and practice their harmonies with the mate while dreaming. I’m not a scientist, nor am I a theologian, and I’m certainly not an expert on ornithology, but the mere existence of songbirds, their sheer variety, their magnificent sounds, their complexity, seems miraculous and God-sent. Songbirds are a unique gift from our Creator.
Calls of the wild: A composer transcribes bird songs – YouTube
Vocal Gymnastics. The most energy-draining activity of the songbird is singing its song, right after migrating and scrounging for food. Some songbirds are known to sing as many as 20,000 songs per day, and others maybe one or two times! There are many songbirds who spend 70% of their day in the act of singing. The variety of songs is astounding… some sound like a lute, others are indescribably ethereal, others are complex harmonies, and still others are simple melodies. Some songs are as loud as 125 decibels, and other songs can be barely heard if at all. Some songs are sung in rigorous flight, while others are sung while peacefully perched on a branch. Songbirds can produce music that sound like everything from a baby crying to a human laughing, from a monkey to a human voice, from a truck diesel engine to a creaking door. Some songs are sung to impart information, other songs are sung to simply be an expression of pleasure. Bird songs tend to be sung to attract potential mates and to mark one’s territory. Most male songbirds have as many as 40 different songs in their repertoire, improvising which song to sing dependent on the audience of females. Some sparrows are known to have even much more than 40 songs at their disposal. Some songbirds sing literally all night, while others sing once a day, in the early morning to welcome the new day at the sun’s rising. Many songbirds just naturally sing with an accent, so to speak, with songs that reflect the local dialect of their particular territory. The “sentinel songbirds” belt out their songs in concert with a host of others of their kind in order to alert the immediate area of a lurking predator, with their songs even including information such as the size and relative danger of the predator. Many times, the sheer volume and intensity of this choir of sentinels are enough to scare away the predator. The songbird community seems to have their own natural “Neighborhood Watch” program.
Canary Bird Song | Canary Bird Singing – YouTube
Bird-Brain. It wasn’t long ago that calling someone a “bird-brain” was a supreme insult to someone who was being accused of being slow-witted. That insult is now ancient history with all the recent research into the surprisingly complex brain of a bird. Scientists have discovered a unique density of neurons packed inside those little brains. Many birds enjoy an ability to engage in a higher order of thinking than mammals, even some primates. Songbirds in particular are extremely intelligent, including the raven and parrot. Parrots can mimic over 800 words, while ravens have the ability to mimic human speech, and even reproduce the sounds of predators in order to lead them to a carcass. Crows, cousins of the raven, can recognize human faces, and a community of crows have been known to harbor grudges for many generations. There are specific regions of the bird’s brain dedicated to the singing of its song, and the birds’ ability to sing exactly correlates to the size of those brain regions. A recent discovery has revealed that dopamine, the pleasure chemical released by the brain, is released in the songbird after it sings a song flawlessly! The bird brain is wired to provide pleasure to the songbird through its natural ability to sing!
Bird Songs | Colorful Birds | Exotic Bird Sounds | Singing Robins – YouTube
Voice Box. Songbirds have something distinctive from the other birds… a unique voice box called a syrinx. This is a complex organ that is actually two independent voice boxes in each songbird. Each songbird is able to operate both voice boxes independent of the other, which allows one songbird to sing two different notes at the same time. So a songbird is able to sing harmony and melody simultaneously! This voice box has two chambers and is located deep in the bird’s chest where it leads directly to its lungs and its airflow. Because each chamber can operate separately, the songbird can produce very complex melodies which result in harmonies with multiple notes and pitches. Both chambers have nine pairs of muscles attached it, which gives the songbird complete control of the sounds they produce. When the songbird exhales, the muscles allow the airflow to affect the membranes that are inside each voice box chamber. When the membranes vibrate, the songs are produced. Using their voice boxes expertly, the songbirds learn how to interweave complex musical patterns with varying pitches and notes and tempos.
The World’s Most Beautiful Bird Songs – Part One
Sleep-Singing. The brain of a songbird is reactivated as the songbird dozes off, and brain activity is pronounced during its sleep cycle. The songbirds are wired to rehearse their songs while sleeping. The neural pathways in a bird’s brain replay the songs by twitching the bird’s vocal muscles, enabling the bird to unconsciously practice their melodies. When birds are literally dreaming their songs, their neural connections are being strengthened, which helps the songbird to solidify the memory of the songs for later use. During this process, the researchers have concluded that this is much like a human learning to play a musical instrument, with stops and starts, repetition, and disjointed notes until a well-established song is possible. Songbirds have also been known to experiment with its sounds during sleep to help create new songs for later. Not only that, but when male and female mates sleep together, they’re able to instinctually synchronize their brain functions in a way that they can rehearse their duets in harmony for the next day. The scientists call this phenomenon the “extended brain circuit.” Speaking of duets…
Lovebird Duet in the Flower Garden – Relaxing Bird Songs for a Peaceful Day – YouTube
Duetting. Many songbirds have the ability to sing in harmony with their mates. They rehearse their duets while sleeping together, and learn how to synchronize their songs while practicing during the night. Since the females have a natural pitch that is higher and the male lower-pitched, the harmonies are created as they sing their melodies. Each mated pair of songbirds form their own unique singing pattern and sing their original tunes. The songs tend to be initiated by the male and the female responds, and then they sing together. This call-and-response arrangement works well, until it doesn’t… After the male starts the song, if he doesn’t get the musical response he expects to hear, then he attacks the female as an intruder. Much like a musical password, if the male doesn’t get the right password back from the female, the male flies into action to provide protection for the nest and its babies. Woe to the female songbird if she doesn’t respond with the correct song, because the male wants to protect the nest, mark his territory and bond with the female partner at all costs. Duetting between songbird partners is intended to be a bonding experience between mates, but evidently it doesn’t always work out that way.
A Duet #gopro #birds #birdfeeding #birdsong – YouTube
Learning to Sing. Unlike bird calls and its huge variety of mostly instinctual sounds, songbirds have to learn their sounds. The baby bird goes through a period of screeching sounds while its voice box is developing. While still in the nest, the chick learns to mimic its parents’ songs and sounds, and this imitation process enables them to begin learning how to sing on their own. Months later, as the young birds mature and the parents complete their job as musical instructors, the young birds are able to sing to their heart’s content and add their own unique beauty to God’s world.
Life Span. Generally, the rule of thumb is that the smaller the songbird, the shorter its life span. Most smaller songbirds only survive between one to two years, due to the many downsides to life in the wild such as predators, disease, accidents, and starvation. The greatest predator of smaller songbirds, unsurprisingly, is the local cat. There is a 50% chance of smaller songbirds lasting two years, and a 90% chance that it will not make it to full maturity.