TWEET OF THE DAY

Richard Smyth on birdsong in A Sweet, Wild Note: What We Hear When The Birds Sing

Birdsong has inspired poets and scientists, musicians and daydreamers, all of whom have translated the chorus of notes into “a thesis and a poem and a mood board and a spider diagram and a song and a symphony”, depending on their own preoccupations or occupations. For the birds themselves the same notes have an entirely different significance – it can be an attempt to establish and maintain territory, a warble to attract a mate, a reminder of whose turn it is to incubate the eggs, or as a secret password to detect the nefarious cuckoo’s egg in a nest of unborn chicks. Smyth’s fascinating study is full of expert knowledge and witty observations and will have you listening to the dawn chorus with fresh ears and a glad heart. (