I wonder what the birds sound like somewhere else, in other countries. I love the birds of evening here. My home shall always be Illinois, the plowed earth against the hues of an evening sky: orange, shades of magenta and deep purple fading. Black trees against a midnight blue in the distance as I hear my familiar midwestern birds. The black capped chickadees have thier strange phoebe call and my mourning doves of the late evening with their lovely cooing. Then there is the crackling caw of my big burly guardians in the murders of crows hanging about the fields. The great lilting honk that rises in an almost questioning tone if you listen long enough comes from the Greater Canadian geese found throughout campus and the field hunts of my childhood. But also in the evening you have the wonderful fiesty fighting sounds of twittering juncos that always make me feel like I could go on an adventure in the woods. Perhaps I could become Sam Gribley once again and find a great old hemlock tree to live in, eh? That would be the life... I've always wanted a pet falcon.

Speaking of birds of prey, there happen to be two or three owls that live on campus, as you can tell because the trees are 'whitewashed' where they have been roosting. Plus it is always easy to tell an owl call (especially the widespread Great Horned Owl) by the always recognizable 'hoooo...hooo". If we had barned owls it would scare the bejeezies out of you because it is a screeching call like some demonized dragon in minature form... right scary sounding it is if you aren't expecting it.


Well... I'll continue my discourse on birds later... but I do wonder....


what does evening sound like somewhere else?