By: Dare Euler, Rewild NJ Movement Member
Summer nights. Seasons bring more than just changes for our eyes and clothing. More than just temperature and daylight hours. Nights in summer are layered with sound.
One August night, I sat on my back deck. Initially the woods seem quiet compared to the constant streaming of daytime noise. But then…
I went inside and brought my granddaughter away from the TV and outside with me to sit and listen. The woods and yes the hills, mountains, came alive with the sound of music. From canopy to leaf litter, winging and hopping and crawling, insect performances filled the dark. Katydids sang in rounds, repeating melodies from one tree to another. Crickets hidden in the dark trilled, adding syncopated stops when startled by something we could not see. Barely audible moth wings hushed around us like notes from afar.
To my surprise, my granddaughter sat with me outside for several minutes listening quietly. She tried to peer into the dark to see the source but let her ears do the most work. Some performers finished and took a break. Some seemed never to tire and exuberantly played encore after encore. After a bit she went back to the lights and TV, but she was smiling.
Summer nights. Alive with raucous life. Fall nights will tame. Cricket chirps slow in tempo as the nights cool and then stop. Katydids no longer toss their song back and forth. Winter’s stillness will replace summer’s ballads with quiet scurryings and soft shuffling through fallen leaves. Hopefully the sifting and whispers of snow will hum their quiet melody.
When I slow enough to replace seeing with listening, the music of the wild reaches my soul and quiets my spirit. While the nighttime symphony plays for only a few more weeks, get wild, sit, and be an audience. Let’s get wild and quiet!
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