This article by Ray Spitzenberger first appeared in IMAGES about Fowl Songs for 9 June, 2022 East Bernard Express, East Bernard, Texas.
Living on a farm, as my grandparents did, or on a “mini” farm in town, as we did in the 1940s, you have a great awareness of animal sounds. Adding to the euphonious/cacophonous sounds of domestic farm animals are the sounds of the wild creatures. Is it music or noise?
I never liked the sound of cows wanting to be milked or fed, so I considered cow-sounds noise. But then a lot of modern music Is noisy, that is, “cacophonous” rather than “euphonious.” So, who is to say.
As a poet, the domestic/wild creature sounds I remember the most fondly are “fowl sounds,” — chickens, owls, cardinals, Guinea fowls, etc. Yes, I know, guineas are shrill and strident, but so is Stravinsky. Not to mention atonal music that came after Stravinsky!
Of the many domestic farm fowl sounds, that of baby chicks is the most endearing and the most musical to me. Baby chicks peep or chirp in different ways. Ours were delivered to the Post Office, and the peeps or chirps they made in the mailing room were distress calls.
Baby chicks made a soft, contented-sounding peep when they were happy and contented. To me, that was the sweetest natural fowl music I ever heard.
When a baby chick makes a continuous, high-pitched chirp, that is the distress call of a very unhappy chick! An even louder, shriller chirp indicates the baby creature has gone from distressed to panic-stricken.
Nothing more pleasing to the ear than the soft peeps of a happy baby chick.
The soft sound of the baby chicks is a contrast to a rooster’s crowing. We always had a rooster who would shatter the still of early morning with his “cock-a-doodle-do.” In those days of no AC, all the windows of the house were open wide to the rooster’s clarion call. I was usually awake and actually welcomed his garbled Gregorian chant to launch the day. However, on those days when I was still asleep, his crowing was the ugliest sound in the world, not at all music to my ears.
Of the wild feathered creatures who populated our homestead, from the viewpoint of musical sounds, I liked the cardinals and the owls best.
Scientists who study birds tell us that birds “sing,” and the best “singers” are goldfinches, canaries, blackbirds (not crows or grackles obviously), nightingales (a favorite subject of British Romantic poets), and robins. To each his own opinion! I personally like the music of cardinals and owls.
I enjoy the singing of the cardinal, as it sings, “Birdie, birdie, birdie,” with occasional variations. You can be fooled, however, by mockingbirds who imitate the songs of cardinals and other birds.
And then there are owls! Screech owls bark, rasp, chuckle, whinny, and hoot, as well as screech. Barn owls let out screams. Great horned owls sing, “hoo-hoo-hooooo.” The burrowing owl softly and gently coos, “coo-coooo, coo-coooo.” It occurred to me that if you put together a collection of different owls, you could have a symphony orchestra. I would prefer that to listening to a contemporary orchestra play atonal compositions.
I don’t think you can separate music from poetry. Ancient Japanese poets made and played a bamboo flute called a “shakuhachi.” It was originally made to re-create the sounds of nature, especially the sounds of waterfalls, birds, and other woodland creatures, as well as the songs of the wind. Those sounds/songs are both euphonious and cacophonous. Of those, I like the “fowl songs” the best.
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Ray Spitzenberger is a retired Wharton County Junior College teacher, a retired Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod pastor, and author of three books, It Must Be the Noodles, Open Prairies, and Tanka Schoen.