Birdsong

The rooster is renowned for crowing-in the rising sun. But the diurnal bird that starts singing the earliest is probably the Common Koel. Their mellifluous songs can be heard as early as 3.30 at night. i often stand out on the terrace and listen to the low, hauntingly musical, triple-noted calls flowing through the woods from afar, as one after another, birds take up the singing. The song is not continuous; it is interspaced by periods of silence. Each bird sings for sometime and the song is then taken up by another bird, until all birds in the vicinity have sung their pieces. This is followed by a brief period of silence, to be broken by a bird starting to sing all over again…

Is the refrigerator at home CFC-free? Preliminary data analysis indicate that about one-third of ozone in the arctic stratosphere was destroyed last winter. The protective ozone layer over northern and central Europe was thinner than it has been since measurements began 50 years ago!

I’m following with some alarm frequent news of violent bee attacks reported in my vernacular media. i wonder if this is just media hype or are honey bees really becoming more hostile and aggressive? i just hope someone has not - by mistake or otherwise - introduced African Killer Bees or their hybrids to our part of the world! Ill-informed (as well as, malintentioned and ill-advised) introduction of alien species have devastated ecologies across the globe. Is this another disaster in the waiting?

Have you ever dreamt of digging up a dinosaur? Wonder when, if ever, the socio-educational system in our country will evolve and embrace something like Paleotrek Montana…

btw, remember Gödel, Escher, Bach : an Eternal Golden Braid by Douglas Hofstadter ?