International Dawn Chorus Day
Today is International Dawn Chorus Day!
See this Guardian Article : Natural high: why birdsong is the best antidote to our stressful lives
International Dawn Chorus Day is always celebrated on the first Sunday in May and is certainly growing in popularity.
The story goes that International Dawn Chorus Day began in the 1980s when broadcaster and environmentalist Chris Baines asked friends to attend a 4am birthday party so they could enjoy the dawn chorus together. Since then IDCD has grown from a small event in Birmingham UK to an annual international celebration with Dawn Chorus events held as far afield as the Antarctica.
Last year we celebrated the Dawn Chorus at Parrs Wood Environmental Centre you can see some images and listen to our recordings here
This year we are returning to Parrs Wood Enviornmental Centre, but this time we will be listening to the Dusk Chorus. The Dusk Chorus is the special bird song that happens at the end of the day as the birds finish their activities for the day and begin to roost. As Bernie Kraus explains in his wonderful book The Great Animal Orchestra - timing is everything - the day is split up into different times and within that we find different choruses including the dawn chorus, the daytime chorus, the evening/dusk chorus and the night time choruses. Within these chorus are all the utterances of the creatures that live in that particular place. Their utterances are filled with information that relate to the organisms relationship to the whole. So these choruses tell us a lot about an environment and how healthy it is. As Bernie Kraus says " From this ensemble comes the music from nature ".
And that is what we will be listening for, the music of Parrs Wood Environmental Centre! We will listen just as we listen to an instrumental orchestra letting ourselves be taken by the music and feeling the different effects of the journey on which we are taken. It is a truly magical experience to be outdoors under a canopy of trees listening to the unfolding symphony and sharing that with a small group of other people who have devoted the first Sunday evening in May to being there too.
Unfortunately, this event is currently over-subscribed but we recommend you step outside between 8.30-10pm and walk around your own neighbourhood - we guarantee there will be some amazing performances going on right there too!