A Day for the birds

We revel in the glory of the African elephant, giant panda or Galapagos tortoise—the charismatic megafauna that gets most of our attention, whether on television or at the zoo.  But I think the group that deserves the award as the world’s number one animal group—perhaps we should call them the charismatic omnifauna—are the birds.

We all love birds.  According to the 2011 Survey of Fishing, Hunting and Wildlife-Association Recreation, about 50 million Americans feed or observe birds at their homes, spending billions of dollars on bird feeders, sunflower seeds and suet.  USA Today reports that eagles are the most common mascots of high school and college sports teams, virtually lapping the mascot in second place (tigers).  I won’t bore you with more statistics—suffice it to say that only a bird-brain wouldn’t agree that birds are the greatest.

One dedicated bird-lover was Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.  On this day, May 27, in 1784, Mozart went to the contemporary Viennese equivalent of a pet store.  He was amazed by a bird that sang a variation on a work that he had just completed—Piano Concerto in G, K. 453—under the utmost secrecy.   Bird behaviorists Meredith West and Andrew King have suggested that this particular bird probably had heard snatches of the folk tune on which Mozart’s concerto was patterned, but Mozart, known as a skillful and absent-minded whistler, might have stimulated the bird to respond.  He bought the bird, a European Starling, and for the next three years, it was his companion and muse.  When his pet died, Mozart mourned as if for a human—a funeral procession accompanied the grieving composer to the graveyard, sang hymns and listened to an elegy Mozart wrote for the occasion (“He was not naughty, quite, But gay and bright, And under all his brag A foolish wag…”).

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (painting by Barbara Kraft)

This day marks the birthday of another important bird lover—Rachel Carson was born on May 27, 1902.  Carson started watching birds early and continued throughout her life, whether at the bird feeder in her backyard or on a Pennsylvania overlook as the annual hawk migration passed by.

Carson’s love of nature expressed itself in her twin loves of science and writing.  For decades she nurtured the two loves simultaneously, becoming a leading scientific editor for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and a nationally acclaimed nature writer.  But when her third book, The Sea Around Us, hit the New York Times best-seller list and stayed for 86 weeks, her fate was decided—she quit her government job and became a writer, full-time.

Tribute to Rachel Carson at Museo Rocsen, Nono, Argentina (photo by LFSM)

Her next book, and her last, is the classic for which we universally praise Carson, Silent Spring.  She began the book with a fable that laments the loss of bird song:

“On the mornings that had once throbbed with the dawn chorus of robins, catbirds, doves, jays, wrens and scores of other bird voices there was now no sound; only silence lay over the fields and woods and marsh.”

The cause of this silence?  The wanton aerial spraying of pesticides, whose impact Carson detailed in the body of the book.  Her perseverance to get to the bottom of this problem and share it with the world, even as she gradually succumbed to breast cancer, has made our world immeasurably healthier and more beautiful.  And through the book, Carson became the acknowledged prophet of the modern environmental movement.

So, as May nears its end and summer is about to begin, let us praise the sounds that fill our lives with beauty and joy, and thank Rachel Carson and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart for bringing them to us.

References:

Nielsen, Larry A.  2017.  Nature’s Allies—Eight Conservationists Who Changed Our World.  Island Press, Washington, DC, 255 pages.

West, Meredith J. And Anddrew P. King.  1990.  Mozart’s Starling.  American Scientist 78(2):106-114.  Available at:  http://www.indiana.edu/~aviary/Research/Mozart%27s%20Starling.pdf.  Accessed May 28, 2018.

This Month in Conservation

October 1
Yosemite National Park Created (1890)
October 2
San Diego Zoo Founded (1916)
October 3
James Herriot, English Veterinarian, Born (1916)
October 4
Feast Day of St. Francis of Assisi, Patron Saint of Ecology
October 5
Catherine Cooper Hopley, British Herpetologist, Born (1817)
October 6
Mad Hatter’s Day
October 7
Henry A. Wallace, Secretary of Agriculture, Born (1888)
October 8
World Octopus Day
October 9
Vajont Dam Disaster (1963)
October 10
Dnieper Dam Began Operation (1932)
October 11
Big Cypress and Big Thicket National Preserves Created (1974)
October 12
William Laurance, Tropical Conservationist, Born (1957)
October 13
International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction
October 14
Timpanogos Cave National Monument Created (1922)
October 14
Dr. Mamie Parker, Pioneering African American Fisheries Scientist and Leader, Born (1957)
October 15
Isabella Bird, Pioneering Eco-traveler, Born (1831)
October 16
World Food Day
October 17
Oliver Rackham born (1939)
October 18
Clean Water Act established (1972)
October 19
Research Vessel Albatross Launched (1882)
October 20
OPEC Oil Embargo (1973)
October 21
“Ding” Darling born (1876)
October 22
Wombat Day
October 23
Cumberland Island National Seashore established (1972)
October 24
Antoni von Leeuwenhoek born (1632)
October 25
Secretary of the Interior Convicted in Teapot Dome Scandal (1929)
October 26
Erie Canal Opens (1825)
October 27
Golden Gate and Gateway National Recreation Areas Created (1972)
October 28
Henry Mosby, Wild Turkey Biologist, Born (1913)
October 28
First Ticker-tape Parade Held (1886)
October 29
Stanley Park, Vancouver, Dedicated (1889)
October 30
UNESCO Designates 9 Natural World Heritage Sites (1981)
October 31
Lincoln Highway Dedicated (1913)
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