It seems as soon as the sky lightens with the rising sun, the birds come alive, whether they can see the sun or not. Their chatter woke me this morning; I pulled the shade aside to see if the sun had popped over Newman’s Peak, which is to the east of us. It hadn’t; but it wasn’t night dark and it wasn’t daylight over on this side either. Sort of like dusk but in the morning.
I was curious about why the birds were chirping before the sun was
officially up over the mountain, so I googled “Do birds wake up at
sunrise?” I found mention of the ‘dawn
chorus’, a phenomenon that usually takes place before sunrise, on several sites.
I went down that rabbit hole for a few minutes.
Woodlandtrust.org.uk had the most
concise explanation:
The site reconnectwithnature.org had this to say about quality of song in the early morning vs. later in the day.
“Researchers at one time believed birds were also taking advantage of the cooler, drier air in the morning to allow their notes to carry a little farther, but research has shown that's not the case. Their notes actually carry as far — or even farther — at midday than in the predawn hours thanks to their early-morning warmup, according to a study conducted by a team of researchers at Duke University.
The Duke researchers
hypothesized that songbirds' early morning concert is a warmup so they can
perform vocally later in the day, and they tested their theory by studying the
behavior of a group of male swamp sparrows between 2 a.m. and noon for two to three
mornings per bird. In all, they analyzed more than 1,500 swamp sparrow
songs, and they found that the birds' vocal ability improves as the day goes
on, allowing them to sing more complicated notes and songs as the day
progresses. While the study demonstrated a clear improvement in singing ability
after the birds' early-morning warmup, researchers aren't certain what causes
their singing to improve.”
Well, I know that my “just out of
bed” voice doesn’t sound like my “I’ve been up and talking for an hour” voice.
Not hard to imagine it’d be the same with the birds. But doing a study on it? 🤔
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The sun coming up over Newman’s Peak sure wasn’t much of a day
brightener. Cool, cloudy and looking like rain at 8 a.m., but by 11 o’clock,
the dreariness had moved on, and the sun was shining bright. With the shades
open, the sun made my ‘office’ comfy cozy warm. However, a sweatshirt or light
jacket was needed when going outside because of a coolish breeze. Remained like
that the rest of the day.
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Our bird feeder camera worked great at home on the back deck but couldn’t
make it work yesterday. Started troubleshooting the problem while waiting for
the laundry to finish. Then we spent way too much time beyond that trying to
get it to talk to a nearby network. Joe’s satellite and the camp’s Wi-fi both
put out too much signal, I guess. It needed 2.4 GHz only and both of those were
5 GHz. Picky!! We changed our mobile hotspot to 2.4 and still couldn’t connect.
And to check an important detail, it indicates I go to a feature in the app
that isn’t in the app. Agh! So frustrating!
Finally decided to come back to it later. Came back to it four hours
later…Nope, still just as frustrating. Fiddled with it a bit more and
finally put it back in the box. I’ll make a phone call to customer support on a
yucky rainy day when I can’t be outside. Or maybe just wait until we get home.
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I woke up still dealing with a stuffy head and runny nose. Not so much
sneezing today, though. Kim wondered if it was really the result of the windy
ride or if I came down with a cold. Nope, I’m convinced this is because the
wind was blasting through, up, and around my sinus cavities. Time to do another
Google search. This is an AI answer to my question “What happens when extreme
wind blows through a sinus cavity”:
Extreme wind blowing through a sinus
cavity—or more accurately, passing over the nasal passages—typically
causes intense drying of the mucous membranes, irritation, and
inflammation. This results in severe congestion,
facial pressure, headaches, and in extreme, rare cases, barosinusitis (pressure
damage).
Dehydration of Membranes: Strong, dry winds
strip moisture from the nasal passages, causing the delicate membranes to
become irritated, inflamed, and swollen.
Increased Irritant
Exposure: Winds, particularly in desert or dry areas, carry
high amounts of dust, pollen, and pollutants, which get trapped in the sinuses
and trigger excessive mucus production.
That’s
good enough for me.
Drove out to the petroglyphs out on State
Land to play with the drone. More accurately, Kim playedwith the drone, and I
sat on a rock taking pictures of petroglyphs I was sure I hadn’t seen before
(but really, who knows?) and then of faces I saw in the rock formations to send
to eight-year-old Shelby. There was a sleepy turtle, a fish, a sleeping kitten,
and a rare head shot of a smiling T-Rex. That last one owes its inclusion to a
strategically placed petroglyph above
When
all the playing was done, we walked around the mountain. The sunny, yet cool
day was perfect for a leisurely walk through the desert. Heard a bird singing
now and then but otherwise it was quiet. So different from the bird chatter we’re
used to hearing at the campground. Hard to imagine a raucous dawn chorus taking
place out there, more like a solo version.
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Stopped at the IGA today…two bags of piggy cookies still on the
shelf. Not ashamed to say I bought both.
It works good to freeze them individually in plastic wrap, then thaw one out in
the sunshine when the urge to eat a piggy cookie comes over me. The sun warms
it and the condensation from the wrap moistens it, making it taste fresh out of
the oven. Perfection!
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