Catch Phrase: If The Birds Are Chirping Let Them Sing

[Gambit McCrae]

Disclaimer: Please don't turn this into a "Don't ever bring earbuds on the trail" discussion. This is not that. If you think it is, read this again.

Hello folks! "If the birds are chirping, let them sing". I made this up about a year ago on the Pinhoti when I started waking up before the sun on trail. I found that the first thing I did was pop the earbuds in, and the last thing of the day was pop them out and ALL in between was audibly lost. When I began waking up before daylight found a phase of the day I do not miss and that phase is the world coming alive for the day. From the desert in New Mexico to the deepest depths of the 100 mile wilderness, the birds wake up the woods. I will listen to the birds for a couple hours and then if you pay attention all the commotion slows down for the day, and that's when the earbuds go in now.

I do not put earbuds in, in situations that I could step on a snake...So no earbuds thru the wooly months of the year for me but in winter, early spring, late fall they add a good deal of enjoyment for me. On these trails consisting of extended road walks ie Pinhoti, Sheltowee, CDT...I enjoy them greatly in the road sections.

So what does this phrase mean to you?
What are your morning rituals?
What do you do differently now than you use to?

[Odd Man Out]

I used to get up immediately as soon as I heard birds singing. I would pack up and get moving. After a bit of warm-up hiking I would stop to eat something, if I was hungry. Now I am less inclined to hurry off in the AM. I take time to make at hot breakfast (hor chocolate with a double shot of Starbuck Via plus hot cereal (real oatmeal, not the evil instant stuff). So I guess my catch phrase would be to stop and smell the coffee.

I don't own earbuds.

[LoneStranger]

Never heard the phrase.

Waking up at "bird-thirty" is mandatory. Getting up at "bird-thirty" is optional.

On days expected to be very hot or very long I will pop up at first light when they wake up. On normal days rolling over for another nap is an option.

I have carried wired earphones on every hike for years, but never used them. If I want music I sing the songs in my head out loud

[Crossbar]

Same as Gambit. Love listening to the world waking up in the morning but on the monotonous stretches of trail, when safe to do so, I'll listen to some tunes.

[LazyLightning]

If the birds are chirping let them sing, but if I wake up to that then I'm way late. I'm usually on trail before they're chirping.

[Traveler]

For everything there is a season and a time to every purpose under heaven.

I enjoy the sound of a waking forest and tend to agree that's the best part of any day. However, I don't necessarily enjoy the sound of bear bells for miles, people shouting back and forth between groups on a trail, heavy traffic from nearby highways, chainsaws, and the ever popular incessantly barking dog. For these and the drudgery of long road walks I find earbuds to be the perfect solution.

[Montana Mac]

My wife uses the birds to predict the weather and if she is going for her daily walk or not. She has learned their different calls to know when they are calling for rain. It's amazing how accurate the birds are - waaaay better than any TV weatherperson !

[zelph]

The 17 year cicadas are totally loud this year

How are they in your neighborhood?

[Dan Roper]

I spent Friday night in a tent below Pinefield Hut Shelter on the AT in Shenandoah National Park. There were three or four people in the shelter, one of whom had a big dog, Jo Jo, who was well behaved and quiet all night. But at about 5 a.m. a whippoorwill began loudly calling from beside the shelter. Jo Jo went crazy. She must've thought an alien flying saucer had come to get her.

I love the sounds of the forest, springtime or winter or whenever. I love having quiet time to think. I cannot imagine introducing artificial noise into my ear canals. The sounds of nature - or the absence of sounds - are wonderfully precious.

[Seatbelt]

I love the sounds of the forest, springtime or winter or whenever. I love having quiet time to think. I cannot imagine introducing artificial noise into my ear canals. The sounds of nature - or the absence of sounds - are wonderfully precious.

Same here.

[LittleRock]

I often wear earbuds in the city to drown out all the vehicle and people noises. I never wear them in the woods - the sounds of nature are already quite relaxing to me.

[LazyLightning]

Definitely agree on the no ear buds thing and never got it myself even though I know the OP didn't want this thread to turn into that..

The sounds of nature sound nice and relaxing all day, birds to. I remember walking on a ridge in VA mid day and just feeling so good with the sounds of birds surrounding me and cows in the distance. I know the cows are farmed and not complete nature but still it was something else walking along to all that.

Another time in ME I was hiking with my head lamp before the crack of dawn and I'm pretty sure it was the sounds of moose I was hearing, late Sept/early Oct and it sounded like mooing of sorts but definitely not from cows. That was really cool.

I love hearing an owl at night, or anytime but so nice going to bed with an owl hooting somewhere in the distance.

I told this ear bud story before but here it is again - I'm taking a break and someone I know passes me, we say hey and he moves on with his ear buds in. Imagine the trail doing like a C and I'm at the bottom of it. Out of nowhere a tree comes crashing down in front of me making all sorts of noises, this is by the north end of the C but I didn't know the trail was there yet. Then I see the guy I know hiking towards where the tree fell and I shout out "holly ** dude did you see that?" and I get no response but I see him casually walking forward like he didn't hear a thing. This tree could of came crashing down on top of him and he wouldn't of had a clue what hit him. Without ear buds there would have been plenty of warning noises to at least give you a chance.

Not trying to talk anyone out of wearing ear buds just an example why I never will.

[gpburdelljr]

I like to hear the sounds of the woods, but there are a couple of night sounds I could do without….whipper wills, and a forest full of tree frogs

[Dan Roper]

I'm a birder, so birdsong and calls are some of the "background pleasures" of backpacking. I can remember certain songs at specific places - American goldfinches at Blood Mountain, a broadwinged hawk at Tray Mountain, a veery near Rocky Top, a winter wren on Pine Mountain (Grayson Highlands) and so on.

But I've had the opposite occur. The springtime bird chorus in the southern mountains is so vibrant in May that it can be overwhelming. On the 6th day and 95th mile of a 100-mile trip, near Dragon's Tooth, everything was singing and loudly and had been for days - scarlet tanager, red-eyed vireo, blue-headed vireo, wood thrush, great-crested flycatcher, black-throated green warbler, and so on. It got to be oppressive - not just audibly, but physically. I can't explain it but it was true. i couldn't wait to finish because the birdsong had become wearisome!

[JDB1]

I wear AfterShokz when hiking and keep them at a pretty low volume. Sound transmits through vibrations through the cheek and jaw bone. So I can still hear noise or dangers as nothing is blocking my ear.

[Bubblehead]

I do the same as LittleRock...