[pct-l] Re: Identifying Two birds By song

[rellinwood at worldnet.att.net (Robert Ellinwood)]

> I sometimes think of birds as the best musicians in the world also.

In line with the comment that "Music doesn't make the world go round, but it
sure holds down the friction,"  bird song enjoyed on a long hike can turn an
uphill grunt into a most pleasant joy.  I am definitely NOT a "birder" and
the little I know has been learned from other hikers and Rangers along the
way.  That being said, to know the sound of the flute-like Hermit Thrush, or
the musical "policeman's whistle" of the Varied Thrush, or the ever-present
3-note call of the Mountain Chickadee, or the breathy 5 or 6 "coke-bottle"
blowings of the Blue Grouse - all along the PCT - is to have one's hike
enriched by the surrounding voices of aerial friends in the treetops as one
hikes along.  May climate-change, loss of habitat, and pesticides never take
them from us.

OK, RELAX... no more waxing poetic about birds from me.  Over and out.

Dr Bob

> -----Original Message-----
> From: pct-l-bounces@mailman.backcountry.net [mailto:pct-l-
> bounces@mailman.backcountry.net] On Behalf Of john coyle
> Sent: Saturday, November 19, 2005 2:57 PM
> To: pct-l@mailman.backcountry.net
> Subject: [pct-l] Re: Identifying Two birds By song
> 
> I can't help you identify the bird songs, but this thread brings to mind a
scene from a movie
> titled "Never on Sunday," which for some reason sticks in my mind.
> 
> In the movie an American intellectual philosopher, appropriately named
Homer, travels to a
> small town in Greece to try to discover why Greece has fallen from ancient
greatness.  He
> befriends a Greek working girl named Illia who never works on Sunday, but
rather
> encourages the townspeople to sing, play music, dance, and generally
celebrate life in a clean
> and wholesome manner in the local bar on the 7th day.  In the bar, Homer
tells the talented
> bouzouki player (A Greek guitar) that he is not a true musician because he
can't read music.
> Upon hearing this, the bouzouki player becomes despondent and refuses to
play again despite
> encouragement from the bar patrons.  Finally Illia tells him that the best
musicians in the
> world, the birds in the sky, can't read music either, and yet they play
music all day long from
> the goodness of their hearts.  The musician is convinced, once again, to
play music and to
> doubt the intellectual ramblings of the American philosopher.
> 
> 
> I sometimes think of birds as the best musicians in the world also.
> 
> 
> John Coyle
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