The critters are awake my friends, and I like what they have to say.
Because there is the inevitable traffic whizzing by during the day, all I can usually hear are the many species of birds as they fight for position on any of the bird-feeders scattered about our property. It’s almost spooky sometimes to see so many hulking black birds chasing off the sweet little chickadees and finches. It’s like they’re a bird gang or something, taking the little birds’ lunch money, as if to say “no feed for you, you weakling.”
But at night time, when the black birds are gone and the cute little birds are nesting somewhere, when the sun is gone and most of the cars are sleeping in their respective garages or driveways, well – that’s when the real spring symphony starts.
It’s almost like magic. You’re inside your house, maybe finishing dinner, maybe flipping channels and cursing the fact that you pay through the nose and there is still nothing worth watching on any of the hundreds of channels. Maybe you just need some fresh air, so you decide to let the cat out.
That’s when it hits you. Where traffic noise and annoying black birds make up the sound waves of the noisy day, an entirely new concert has already begun playing during the darkened hours.
You can’t help yourself. You turn off the porch light to make the bugs go away, and step into your yard to look up at the night sky.
The stars are as bright as you’ve ever seen (of course, you haven’t seen much of them during the past wintery months). There’s one that is so bright it must be a plane headed your way, but no. It’s a star, and it’s happy to shine for you. You notice the Big Dipper and Orion’s Belt, and wonder why you don’t lay on the grass anymore at night to find the UFOs as they skirt across the busy universe.
You smile as, from every corner of the bush, comes the seemingly perfect rhythm of the crickets and frogs in the damp surrounding you. It’s a massive but peaceful sound, and you know that spring has finally arrived in just about all its glory. It’s a lullaby song the smaller critters are playing just for you, and you feel the day’s stresses melting away as a soft smile plays at the corners of your mouth. You sigh and know that life is good.
Then a weird beeping noise starts, somewhere deep in the bush behind you. You’re not sure what it is, probably a strange bird’s mating call, but it makes you a little nervous because the beeping is an awful lot like an alien homing device might sound if it’s looking for Predator or ET to come home.
You fall asleep peacefully, only to be plagued by dreams of alien finches trying to peck your face away. Your awakening brain realizes the pecking is coming from that amazing crested woodpecker outside, which means the sun is up again and it must be time to wake up.
