I love the idea that we call out to each and form flocks. Yes to this here on substack for this moment in time. At the moment I am listening to the deep silence in a small pocket of forest in Kyoto on Yoshida Hill. It is markedly different to my life in Newcastle Australia where I also live in a forest that is never silent. Both are beautiful and alive.
Every forest unique, full of flocks of all kinds of beings, often making calls that fall below our hearing range but alive in the air nevertheless. May you find your flocks as you travel Bernadette
Love this as I had not heard of 'biophony' before but I know I love immersing myself in it and I enjoyed some of the unfamiliar antipodean birds you introduce me to. Today I have heard spring's first larks on a very sunny Dartmoor in South West England and, as they do most evenings, the jackdaws gather in the oak trees round my house chattering wildly. I gather that one of the collective nouns for jackdaws is 'conspiracy', which I love as I have often wondered what snippets of news about their day they are exchanging before heading off to roost. I also often wonder how well birds and other creatures understand one another's sounds. Much better than we do, I expect.
Hi Erica thanks for this . I love that term a conspiracy of jackdaws, ! I believe there are quite complex messages being exchanged in all manner of ways between beings, sadly most of us humans are not listening fully. So much to notice!
Love this piece, Sally, the word 'biophony' and another word you've introduced me to here 'cavoodle'. The birds are starting to sing here too after a long, quiet winter, and the first frogs are calling for mates in the allotment pond. But your post made me nostalgic for the song of the Oz magpie, surely the Song of Songs in the bird world, and so different from the croak of our British magpie (which I also love in its way, the corvids being such intelligent birds...) I believe the British and Oz species are in no way related. Is there perhaps an Aboriginal name for your magpie, one that doesn't reflect the omnipresent colonial heritage?
Great to see you here Maggie, and to hear that you are enjoying the early sounds of spring. your allotment such a great refuge for frogs and birds. Cavoodles are everywhere in Australian cities - a cross between a poodle and a cavalier spaniel, sweet natured dogs who love to bark! Australian magpies, butcher birds and currawongs are from the corvid lineage but are not corvids, they all sing beautifully. There are probably hundreds of First Nations names for Australian magpies ( also sometimes called flute birds) , as there are many hundreds of First Nations languages in Australia, Sadly many have been lost through colonisation, the ones I have heard of are garru ( Wiradjuri language from southwest NSW) and marriyang (Dharug from western Sydney/Blue Mountains).
My mum, Judie, loveed the call of the butcher birds. I remember her telling me about visiting her sister, Marg in the Mallee and having listened to the butcher birds for a while she went inside and sat at the piano and picked out their tune.
I often find I am replying to the bird and animal calls I hear around me. It's not a conscious effort, more like a natural instinct to answer, to let the other caller know I heard, I'm here too, here we are now just singing out together. xox
That's such a great story Jo, I am not surprised you come from a lineage of fabulous women who sing with birds, and now for you so many opportunities for bird conversations living as you do in the midst of bush. xx
i love this encouragement to listen to the birds & talk with the feathered ones, to pay strong attention to the natural world, to participate in it with joy. each in our own small way channelling avalokiteshvara, who hears the cries of the world and responds with compassion. when i walk around my nearby lake each evening, hanging out with kookaburras and white cockatoos returns me to presence, returns me to my life, and reminds me of my small big part of interconnection with all living creatures xxx
I love , “small big part of interconnection “ with all living beings, channelling compassion and curiosity, do wish I could join you on your daily walk Brigid, laughing and chatting like the kookas
“Dialogue happens. No longer a passive and numb bystander,” yes I feel the same regarding some communities on Substack; there’s a beautiful engagement.
Beautifully written! I can relate to the lovely bird stories and cries. Birds for me, where I live are like a thread of connection and sanity in the natural world. I love them . Even now they tweet and cry as the dusk falls. Ahh ‘life is still abiding…‘ they speak to me.
Thanks Deb for this, and for providing homes for so many beings in your park where you have planted so many trees and bushes, a beautiful contribution to life abiding !
Hi Sally, as a fellow lover of words (and Australian bird songs😁) I was playing with commenting either, 'I'm so moved by this piece' or 'This post truly moved me, Sally'♥️ and figured that the first emphasizes my emotional response, and the 2nd highlights the power of the post itself. and I'm chuckling at myself now, as I want to share both, as ultimately both are true.
Not only do Australian bird songs make me feel so nostalgic, but the metaphor of how all sentient beings call out to each other is truly beautiful and moving. I'm so looking forward to being back in oz soon and immersing myself in the Aussie bird songs♥️🙏🕊️
Thank you Camilla, I am so excited for your return to Australia knowing how the birds, the scents, the light and the feel of the air will all welcome you home along with your loved ones. There is nothing like the Australian bird chorus at dawn!
Thanks so much for your very kind and sweet sentiments Sally. And what you say is so true. When we first moved to NYC I bought CD of Aussie bird songs as I missed them so much♥️🙏🏼🕊
Biophony is not a word that I was familiar with. I love new words, so thank you. Birds sing in the morning, but I don't know their names. Squirrels chatter. My dog barks a playful bark at the puppy across the street, hoping to run and wrestle, but not this morning. This morning it's just a walk. Is the sound of rushing water in the creek, or wind rustling the leaves biophony too? Or is it a term that only applies to the sounds of animals? What I like about the word is its close resemblance to symphony, except biophony the music that the natural world makes.
I've talked to animals for a long time. Currently I have a relationship with a squirrel who comes to visit on a fairly regular basis. She gets very close to me and we're interested in each other. I also whisper prayers of thanks to the trees which shelter this house and offer shade, cloistering, and beauty. Trees, I believe, are the holder of our stories until we're ready to tell them.
These days, I'm listening to the biophony (so love that word) of life around me -- such a better story than the 24/7 toxic politics that plays on the news.
On an unrelated note, I'm enjoying your book very much. May the world continue to sing to you.
HI Stephanie so lovely to hear about the biophony of where you live, we so often take these noises for granted , as we take so much else for granted of our living world, but yes once we stop to listen the world opens up into a much more relational fabric. Biophony refers to the sounds of non-human living organisms while water would be classified as geophony ,the sound of earth ( like wind or rain). So many stories being held in our world by the more than human. Delighted to hear your are enjoying my book. Thank you and blessings!
Thank you for this beautiful post Sally, you wove seamlessly into my dreams. I read this on waking at 5, before dawn, read the questions at the end then lay back in bed to listen.
Right on queue a Tawny owl called across the field, calls travelling with long resonance. The owl and I listening to the sound travel before the next call came.
After some time a new call from another direction, slightly more frail sounding, perhaps an older or younger owl or just a different voice. They begin weaving their calls back and forth and in my part dream state I can see the sound travelling, the shapes it is making.
The owls are moving and calling, the sound shapes are swirling around my nest in the yurt. I drift off to sleep again with the thought - I have to share this with Sally! Thank you for waking up my ears for this moment!
Oh Julia what a wonderful response from your biophony! I love that you read my piece so early in bed in your yurt, and then had such an immediate connection with owls. And experienced the shape of the calls, such whole bodied listening . Thank you! Now I too will listen for the shapes!
Oh Sally what a beautiful reminder that we are part of the natural world and that to listen deeply is to connect and this yearning to be listened to is deep. Can we listen deeply to First Nations communities who still ache to be heard and their needs to be responded to? Can we listen to those we disagree with, with a wish to hear their stories? This, I believe is the challenge of these times.
Thank you Lody for extending what I have written to these questions and calls, so vital for these times. They are the challenge but also very much opportunities too
The first thing I thought of was listening to you play certain pieces of music over and over again on your piano many decades ago.( at my request and your generosity)Now I am listening to my husband do exactly the same thing. I think of joyous repetition and the comfort ,recognition and beauty and the opposite ,painful repetition. Like a see saw.It's impossible to stay only up as we see in the world at large right now. Thank goodness the birds continue their repertoire to buoy our spirits.
Oh Leonie I had forgotten this! It must be your destiny to live with piano players! the birds do practice their calls I think and improvise new ones, and yes their cries carry the full range of emotions that come with being in a world which is both beautiful and endangered
I love the idea that we call out to each and form flocks. Yes to this here on substack for this moment in time. At the moment I am listening to the deep silence in a small pocket of forest in Kyoto on Yoshida Hill. It is markedly different to my life in Newcastle Australia where I also live in a forest that is never silent. Both are beautiful and alive.
Every forest unique, full of flocks of all kinds of beings, often making calls that fall below our hearing range but alive in the air nevertheless. May you find your flocks as you travel Bernadette
Love this as I had not heard of 'biophony' before but I know I love immersing myself in it and I enjoyed some of the unfamiliar antipodean birds you introduce me to. Today I have heard spring's first larks on a very sunny Dartmoor in South West England and, as they do most evenings, the jackdaws gather in the oak trees round my house chattering wildly. I gather that one of the collective nouns for jackdaws is 'conspiracy', which I love as I have often wondered what snippets of news about their day they are exchanging before heading off to roost. I also often wonder how well birds and other creatures understand one another's sounds. Much better than we do, I expect.
Hi Erica thanks for this . I love that term a conspiracy of jackdaws, ! I believe there are quite complex messages being exchanged in all manner of ways between beings, sadly most of us humans are not listening fully. So much to notice!
I’m sure we used to know when we were living our indigenous nomadic hunter gatherer lives. How might we learn to listen better, I wonder?
Love this piece, Sally, the word 'biophony' and another word you've introduced me to here 'cavoodle'. The birds are starting to sing here too after a long, quiet winter, and the first frogs are calling for mates in the allotment pond. But your post made me nostalgic for the song of the Oz magpie, surely the Song of Songs in the bird world, and so different from the croak of our British magpie (which I also love in its way, the corvids being such intelligent birds...) I believe the British and Oz species are in no way related. Is there perhaps an Aboriginal name for your magpie, one that doesn't reflect the omnipresent colonial heritage?
Great to see you here Maggie, and to hear that you are enjoying the early sounds of spring. your allotment such a great refuge for frogs and birds. Cavoodles are everywhere in Australian cities - a cross between a poodle and a cavalier spaniel, sweet natured dogs who love to bark! Australian magpies, butcher birds and currawongs are from the corvid lineage but are not corvids, they all sing beautifully. There are probably hundreds of First Nations names for Australian magpies ( also sometimes called flute birds) , as there are many hundreds of First Nations languages in Australia, Sadly many have been lost through colonisation, the ones I have heard of are garru ( Wiradjuri language from southwest NSW) and marriyang (Dharug from western Sydney/Blue Mountains).
My mum, Judie, loveed the call of the butcher birds. I remember her telling me about visiting her sister, Marg in the Mallee and having listened to the butcher birds for a while she went inside and sat at the piano and picked out their tune.
I often find I am replying to the bird and animal calls I hear around me. It's not a conscious effort, more like a natural instinct to answer, to let the other caller know I heard, I'm here too, here we are now just singing out together. xox
That's such a great story Jo, I am not surprised you come from a lineage of fabulous women who sing with birds, and now for you so many opportunities for bird conversations living as you do in the midst of bush. xx
i love this encouragement to listen to the birds & talk with the feathered ones, to pay strong attention to the natural world, to participate in it with joy. each in our own small way channelling avalokiteshvara, who hears the cries of the world and responds with compassion. when i walk around my nearby lake each evening, hanging out with kookaburras and white cockatoos returns me to presence, returns me to my life, and reminds me of my small big part of interconnection with all living creatures xxx
I love , “small big part of interconnection “ with all living beings, channelling compassion and curiosity, do wish I could join you on your daily walk Brigid, laughing and chatting like the kookas
“Dialogue happens. No longer a passive and numb bystander,” yes I feel the same regarding some communities on Substack; there’s a beautiful engagement.
so agree, every time I come on I see this happening, so heartening
Beautifully written! I can relate to the lovely bird stories and cries. Birds for me, where I live are like a thread of connection and sanity in the natural world. I love them . Even now they tweet and cry as the dusk falls. Ahh ‘life is still abiding…‘ they speak to me.
Thanks Deb for this, and for providing homes for so many beings in your park where you have planted so many trees and bushes, a beautiful contribution to life abiding !
Aww thanks Sal, yes as you know, it does make a difference!!
Hi Sally, as a fellow lover of words (and Australian bird songs😁) I was playing with commenting either, 'I'm so moved by this piece' or 'This post truly moved me, Sally'♥️ and figured that the first emphasizes my emotional response, and the 2nd highlights the power of the post itself. and I'm chuckling at myself now, as I want to share both, as ultimately both are true.
Not only do Australian bird songs make me feel so nostalgic, but the metaphor of how all sentient beings call out to each other is truly beautiful and moving. I'm so looking forward to being back in oz soon and immersing myself in the Aussie bird songs♥️🙏🕊️
Thank you Camilla, I am so excited for your return to Australia knowing how the birds, the scents, the light and the feel of the air will all welcome you home along with your loved ones. There is nothing like the Australian bird chorus at dawn!
Thanks so much for your very kind and sweet sentiments Sally. And what you say is so true. When we first moved to NYC I bought CD of Aussie bird songs as I missed them so much♥️🙏🏼🕊
Biophony is not a word that I was familiar with. I love new words, so thank you. Birds sing in the morning, but I don't know their names. Squirrels chatter. My dog barks a playful bark at the puppy across the street, hoping to run and wrestle, but not this morning. This morning it's just a walk. Is the sound of rushing water in the creek, or wind rustling the leaves biophony too? Or is it a term that only applies to the sounds of animals? What I like about the word is its close resemblance to symphony, except biophony the music that the natural world makes.
I've talked to animals for a long time. Currently I have a relationship with a squirrel who comes to visit on a fairly regular basis. She gets very close to me and we're interested in each other. I also whisper prayers of thanks to the trees which shelter this house and offer shade, cloistering, and beauty. Trees, I believe, are the holder of our stories until we're ready to tell them.
These days, I'm listening to the biophony (so love that word) of life around me -- such a better story than the 24/7 toxic politics that plays on the news.
On an unrelated note, I'm enjoying your book very much. May the world continue to sing to you.
HI Stephanie so lovely to hear about the biophony of where you live, we so often take these noises for granted , as we take so much else for granted of our living world, but yes once we stop to listen the world opens up into a much more relational fabric. Biophony refers to the sounds of non-human living organisms while water would be classified as geophony ,the sound of earth ( like wind or rain). So many stories being held in our world by the more than human. Delighted to hear your are enjoying my book. Thank you and blessings!
Thank you for this beautiful post Sally, you wove seamlessly into my dreams. I read this on waking at 5, before dawn, read the questions at the end then lay back in bed to listen.
Right on queue a Tawny owl called across the field, calls travelling with long resonance. The owl and I listening to the sound travel before the next call came.
After some time a new call from another direction, slightly more frail sounding, perhaps an older or younger owl or just a different voice. They begin weaving their calls back and forth and in my part dream state I can see the sound travelling, the shapes it is making.
The owls are moving and calling, the sound shapes are swirling around my nest in the yurt. I drift off to sleep again with the thought - I have to share this with Sally! Thank you for waking up my ears for this moment!
Oh Julia what a wonderful response from your biophony! I love that you read my piece so early in bed in your yurt, and then had such an immediate connection with owls. And experienced the shape of the calls, such whole bodied listening . Thank you! Now I too will listen for the shapes!
Oh Sally what a beautiful reminder that we are part of the natural world and that to listen deeply is to connect and this yearning to be listened to is deep. Can we listen deeply to First Nations communities who still ache to be heard and their needs to be responded to? Can we listen to those we disagree with, with a wish to hear their stories? This, I believe is the challenge of these times.
We do a good riff together !
Absolutely! ❤️
Thank you Lody for extending what I have written to these questions and calls, so vital for these times. They are the challenge but also very much opportunities too
Yes definitely opportunities, as we rise to meet them. Thank you for that subtle reminder. 🙏❤️
The first thing I thought of was listening to you play certain pieces of music over and over again on your piano many decades ago.( at my request and your generosity)Now I am listening to my husband do exactly the same thing. I think of joyous repetition and the comfort ,recognition and beauty and the opposite ,painful repetition. Like a see saw.It's impossible to stay only up as we see in the world at large right now. Thank goodness the birds continue their repertoire to buoy our spirits.
Oh Leonie I had forgotten this! It must be your destiny to live with piano players! the birds do practice their calls I think and improvise new ones, and yes their cries carry the full range of emotions that come with being in a world which is both beautiful and endangered