A Different Natural Scene

I have been pleasantly surprised by the abundance of nature in Birmingham’s urbanscape.  As a matter of fact, it would be more accurate to say that I have been overwhelmed by it.  I had completely forgotten how nature is in the South, even in its cities.  Of course, the Colorado landscape I lived in was dominated by mountains and they made residents aware of the land’s tremendous natural splendor.  I am slowly coming to appreciate that the same can be said of Alabama and furthermore that natural splendor can be exhibited in ways that eclipse what I knew in Colorado.

The words “natural splendor” are often equated with incredible scenery.  That is the way the phrase is used in travel brochures, for example.  While Birmingham has its own beauty and charm, nobody would equate its setting with that of Boulder or Colorado Springs.  Nature here does not shout but hums instead.  You have to be willing to uses senses other than sight to appreciate the wonders this area has.  In Boulder, your gaze was always directed upward toward some mountain peak.  In Birmingham, I have learned to take things in with a different kind of perception and awareness.

One feature of Southern nature that made its presence felt as soon as I arrived was the abundance of birds and birdsong.  Birds begin singing well before sunrise and I’ve awakened to their song while the world outside is still dark.  I still don’t know the names of most of the birds I’ve seen but I have discovered that the different species here have made their presence known by the songs they sing.  I’ve heard a bewildering variety of calls, notes and cadences filling the air on a typical day in Birmingham.  That was a pleasant surprise but by no means the only one.

Local bird species are quite colorful and I’ve learned to recognize some.  Robins, mourning doves, cardinals and mocking birds abound.  I’ve seen hummingbirds sipping nectar from the flowers in our front yard and a few weeks ago I had an encounter that startled me very much.  I noticed a yellow-breasted bird hopping along the ground which did not fly away when I approached.  Instead it found refuge under one of the front yard shrubs, settling there and hoping that the shade and foliage would make it inconspicuous.

Seeing this bird gave me an idea as to its possible identity so I went into the house and consulted the Internet.  It turned out that my hunch was correct and the fowl in question was the yellowhammer, Alabama’s state bird.  The one I had seen was a female, identifiable by the dark feathers on her head whereas the males have bright yellow feathers on theirs.

That was remarkable enough, but you can understand my amazement when I learned that the yellowhammer is a ground nester!  I couldn’t believe that.  It would seem that the bird I spotted likely had a nest under the shrub and that explained her refusal to take flight when I approached.  She had a clutch of eggs that she was sitting on or perhaps even a small brood of nestlings she now had to feed and care for.  I told my family about the yellowhammer and her putative nest, but I didn’t tell them where to look and I decided not to disturb her in any way.

It’s not that I have never encountered ground-nesting birds before.  I was familiar with the meadowlark and the lark bunting when I lived in Colorado, ground-nesters both.  But those birds dwell in the open grasslands east of the Rockies where there are very few trees so nesting on the ground is the only option they have.  It is quite otherwise in Alabama, a state that is heavily forested and home to scores of tree species that never grow in Colorado.  With the abundance of trees in the state, I would never have thought any bird would choose to build a nest on the ground.  Add to this the fact that the yellowhammer is actually a woodpecker which preys on grubs found in tree bark and you will understand why I was completely amazed by my discovery.

Then there are the other natural instrumentalists whose music is heard quite frequently.  I was finally getting used to all the birdsong when new sounds became part of the scene.  The trees in this area are homes to katydids, insects that possess amazing acoustic abilities.  They sit in the branches and produce a high-pitched vibrating note that carries a great distance.  They can be heard during the heat of the day, but it is as evening draws near and particularly during the gloaming which comes with dusk and twilight that they become especially vocal.

A small group of insects will settle in a tree and begin to sing.  They will sing in unison for a set time and then end their song with a long, drawn out sound that goes from a high note to a low one.  When they have finished, insects in another tree will take up the melody and sing; and when they are done those in another tree will contribute.  You can often hear an entire street burst into song as the katydids sing, each group knows its place in the order and the symphony produced will play for some time until finally darkness falls and the performance ends.

Another remarkable thing about these insects is that they will not sing if some creature walks under the tree they occupy.  When that happens they will cut their song short and remain silent until the ground below is clear again.  But I’ve noticed something else:  if eye contact is made with them, they will take flight and find another tree before they will sing again.

After night falls and the birds and katydids have ended their performances, other animals chime in.  In the evenings I can hear crickets, frogs and I don’t know what else all in chorus.  Of course, there are many other creatures also calling, but their notes are produced at frequencies beyond the range of human hearing.  Even so a night in Alabama is seldom a quiet one because life here is abundant and vocal in ways I never experienced in Colorado.

I know that these sounds are not made to please human listeners.  They are mating calls, territory claims, lures for prey and other things far removed from human intercourse.  They represent an aspect of nature that takes time to appreciate and learn.  I suppose another way of putting it is that Colorado is given to the grand gestures:  snowy peaks, deep canyons, horizon-claiming prairies and awesome vistas.  They make an immediate impression upon the observer.  Alabama, on the other hand, is much more intimate:  the scent of magnolia blossom, the song of the katydid, the flower-spangled hillside and the small-scale landscape.  The lessons learned come from patient observation.

Both states have their share of natural splendor and both can be studied profitably by the nature lover.  Along with her geography, Colorado has secrets that demand as intense an examination as any Alabama biome.  On the other hand, Alabama’s biological diversity is supplemented by spectacular landscapes that leave visitors as breathless as Colorado’s terrain.  What I am discovering in Alabama is that I must adjust my viewpoint in order to fully enjoy this state’s many treasures.  Doing so will enhance my life and put a marvelous patina on my sense of wonder.