Local news for local people
Listening to Nature
June 20, 2024
On Friday, June 14, Oberon residents were treated to a fascinating talk by naturalist Andrew Skeoch about listening to the sounds of nature, specifically birds. The talk was presented at the Oberon Community Centre by Friends of Oberon Library (FOOLs).
Just some of the bird songs we were about to
hear.
Andrew has spent many years recording the sounds that many of us either don't notice or take for granted and exposed the audience to some surprising facts. Who knew that birds have conversations, joke with each other or use songs just to amuse themselves?
The talk was illustrated with several recordings of birds going about their business, accompanied by animated spectrograms that tracked the sounds and made it easy to distinguish the different birds in each recording.
With stereo sound and widely spaced speakers it was easy to hear the different birds and how they communicated with each other.
An interesting fact is that most birds have the equivalent of a human larynx at the bottom of their windpipes, unlike mammals who have theirs near the top. This enables birds to produce sounds that exploit the length of the trachea as well as the body size of the bird, with smaller birds generally having higher pitched calls than larger ones. A strange exception is found in pigeons, doves and similar animals, where the sounds are trapped in the body by closing the outlet at the mouth, producing much lower pitched sounds than might be expected. This reflects the environments where these birds evolved and the need to transmit their calls across the appropriate distance.
Frequency ranges for the calls of various birds,
showing how doves, pigeons etc have much lower ranges.
That was just one of the things that the audience learnt, but there was also commentary about how we should relate to nature and ourselves. This moves from the realm of biology into philosophy, but it's certainly something to think about.
How we can live a better life by taking advice
from nature.
In his book Deep Listening to Nature, Andrew relates a conversation with Harold, an Indigenous man working at a ranger station.
Harold turns to us. "We're going to find a place to sit quiet. You go maybe on those rocks over there," he says, indicating with a gesture of his hand. "We'll just sit awhile and listen."
After the drive, I am glad of the opportunity to settle, get the sounds of the vehicle out of my head, and let my ears adjust. I nod, "Good, it'll give us some quiet to tune into the bush."
He focuses on me for a long moment, as though wondering how or even whether to respond, then says softly, "No, that's not why we do this."
Now I am puzzled. "I don't understand."
"This is not for you to tune into the bush," he continues. "It's for the bush to tune in to you. Find out what kind of fella you are. Whether you're of good character, whether you can be trusted. If you are, the bush will start revealing itself. Start talking to you. It'll tell you things."
Definitely something to think about. An indication of how well the talk was received was that at the end, nobody had noticed that almost two hours had passed, and anyone who has ever sat through any lecture or presentation will know how impressive that is.
A review of Andrew's book Deep Listening to Nature can be seen here.
Spiny-cheeked Honeyeater dawn chorus, with
distant Magpies, Corellas, Grey Shrike-thrush, Peaceful Doves and an
Emu drumming, recorded at Mutawintji, NSW.
Audio © Listening
Earth
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