In harmony ...

I am sitting out in the early morning shade of my backyard and enjoying being outside without feeling like I am rotating on a spit. As I type this I’m-a listenin’ to all the critters a-singin’. Sure some of them aren’t “singing” (some of them are) but it is music to my ears.

I was just watching a crow chase off another crow and squawking at him wildly. This was certainly not singing, but it had a certain musical component with its consistency – a rhythmic frequency, of sorts.

At that point, “into the picture” (meaning my peripheral view) flew a bird. I watched him as he kept “singing” out a call. Every third or fourth call a female would answer. I think I just witnessed a serenade.

After a few measures the male flew over to where the female whom had been responding was. I assumed a female because the interaction didn’t seem antagonistic prior to, nor after, their rendezvous. I don’t know what happened from there. 

In the background is the white-noise effect of crickets, chiggers, grasshoppers, and a variety of other critters that pitch in on a rather consistent note. On another frequency you have yet others of the bird family chiming in at periodic intervals.

All these frequencies are occurring at the same time. All these pieces assemble into a “song”.  Although, many of them are not “singing”, they are part of a song and engaging in a definite kind of communication. It’s up to everyone in the group to play their note.

This got me thinking about language, or specifically, communicating. There is all this cacophonic background noise, yet all of the same species can “talk” to each other and tune out the other frequencies or … noise.

Humans do this as well. Go to an international airport or worldwide multi-cultural popular tourist hot-spot and listen. You will likely hear a cross of many cultural frequencies, but the one that closest mirrors your own language, you will tune into most.

[we apologize for this interruption … ]

What the … ?  Hey! I just had a lizard scurry across my foot. Not sure, why I included that but thought it might contribute to the togetherness of biodiversity.

Anyhoo ….

[and now for something completely the same…    BLAHBLAHBLAHHHBLAHH BLAH! again we humbly apologize for this interruption, thank you for your patience in this matter while we try to resolve it. And now without further ado, we return you to ….]

So most living creatures are all “singing” and thank goodness for selective hearing to sort through the noise.   

[ahhh … bugger! sorry for the interruption again, but we are out of time for this episode. we will work out these production details promptly and again, humbly apologize for this inconvenience]