Bird watchers are called “birdwatchers” in English; The British Dave Langlois (London, 73 years old), a former nature ranger in the United Kingdom, describes himself as a “birdlistener”, a person who listens to birds. Author of the book “The Songs of the Birds”. The Forgotten Choir (Editorial Tundra), this ornithologist now lives between Asturias and Extremadura precisely to be closer to these virtuosos of nature music.
Questions. In his book he contains a classification of the 20 best songbirds in Spain, in which he places the blackbird and the nightingale in the first two places. Because?
Answer. For me the blackbird is like Bach and the nightingale is like Beethoven. The Blackbird is the sinuous oboe melody of a Bach cantata or mass, a perfect performance. And then there’s “The Fury of the Nightingale,” which is like one of Beethoven’s last quartets.
Q In the case of the nightingale, he states that it has 150 to 230 different types of songs. It is not so?
R. The nightingale has more than a thousand tones, more than a thousand syllables in its song. And it won’t be repeated. In April or May you can listen to the nightingale for a whole hour and it doesn’t repeat itself, its song is always a little different. The nightingale is a bird with an infinite number of phrases and the blackbird is a bird with a phrase that varies indefinitely.
Q Have people forgotten to listen to birds?
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R. I need to explain why hearing birdsong seems counterintuitive to me. If it were pure mathematics or particle physics, which are very beautiful but complex, I would understand it. But it’s easy, you only have to listen four months a year. People don’t do it these days, they don’t do it. It’s as if paintings by painting geniuses like Vermeer, for example, hung on the street and people didn’t stop to look at them. This is important because you don’t protect what you don’t value.
Q Why do birds sing?
R. Although there are exceptions, it is generally the males who sing to impress the females. It’s a way of saying: Look, just as I learned the music of the species, I’m also smart at finding food or defending territory. The female expects a male with cognitive abilities and singing is the proof.
Q And what does this have to do with infidelity?
R. It is important that the song can be understood as a constant struggle against infidelity, since we now know that in the nests there are many eggs that come from different males. If a male has perfect song, there are no other eggs in his nest. But if he relaxes, the female will look for another one to have a better chance of passing on her genes.
Q What is the Beau Geste effect?
R. Beau Geste is a soldier from a PC Wren story who is left alone in a fortress while all his comrades are dead. He is surrounded by enemy fighters, but he places the bodies of the other soldiers along the wall and takes turns firing their rifles to give the impression that there are many of them. In this way he manages to avoid an attack and survive. If a bird moves through its territory and sings with variations, an intruder will also believe that there are many more and go somewhere else. But there are also other males who are so clever that when they arrive on the territory, they can hear the song of a well-known and tolerated neighbor and imitate it to invade. The complexity of all these relationships in song is incredible.
Q He tells the case of a real redstart in Badajoz that imitated 51 different species in one hour of song.
R. Yes, we are studying it. In some species, such as the redstart, song thrush and female starling, it is also impressive that the male is able to mimic the songs of the entire neighborhood.
The bird song expert. PACO PAREDES
Q How do you learn to recognize bird songs?
R. There are three keys to learning. First: Apps are very complex [de identificación] You don’t learn from your cell phone, but rather the entire device does it. Second, listen at dawn and it will be easier to distinguish the songs because the species sing in the correct order. And thirdly: it is better not to start in spring, when there are too many, but now in autumn, when only a few sing, the robin, the totovía and a few others. This way you’ll master the song before other resident birds like the blackbird, wren or song thrush join in at the end of winter and then the migratory birds arrive in spring, which is an explosion. The songs continue in the summer, but gradually fade away.
Q Does human music owe much to birds?
R. Naturally. There is one example that I particularly like. Ta ta ta taaaa. Three short notes that lie in a major third. This famous theme from Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony is very similar to the song of the blue tit. Copy? Chance? I don’t know, but it seems impossible to me that people with a hearing acuity like that of Beethoven, Bach or Malher lived near these other singing masters without being inspired by them for their works. Impossible. Beethoven wrote: “When I walk through the countryside, the matchhammers, the nightingales, the quails and the cuckoos compose with me.”
Q In the book, beyond classical music, do you give some examples of more modern songs that incorporate bird songs directly into the music, such as Pink Floyd’s “Grantchester Meadows,” which features a lark? Is there any current music that is still inspired by birds?
R. This is not happening today. I like current pop music, but it’s very urban.
Q Why do you start listening to birds?
R. I started going to the countryside with older friends in the UK when I was 10 years old. I was the smallest, but already showed a special ability to distinguish birds. I guess it’s a gift. On the other hand, I love human music, I love bird music, and I love the relationships between the two. Strangely, I started early in London, but it took 11 years until I heard my first nightingale at 21. There are around 6,000 pairs of nightingales across Britain, where there is a great tradition of birds, music and poetry. However, only the La Vera region [en Extremadura] Where I live there are about 50,000 pairs part of the year.
Q What method do you use to listen to birds?
R. I’m an ornithologist, I do everything on my bike. I leave at 5:30 in the morning and it’s wonderful. When I am here in Asturias, I live at the foot of one of the emblematic ports of the Vuelta Ciclista, in Arriondas. I start cycling in complete darkness, in complete silence, in any case you only sometimes hear a nocturnal bird like the nightjar. And little by little the light and sound increase in a crescendo, the robin starts, I go a little higher, and you can hear the blackbird, the song thrush, the wren, the warblers. I climb further, the light gets brighter and more and more songs join the party.
Q How do you feel when the songs fade away in the summer and don’t come back until the following spring?
R. For me it’s always a little sad.
Q What continues to fascinate you most about bird song?
R. When birds began singing 60 million years ago, they made a simple squawk. To defend its territory, a dog goes woof woof and that’s it, where does this incredible complexity of today’s bird song come from, that fascinates me. The beauty of singing is a mystery.
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