God's Orchestra

I was toiling away in the yard yesterday when I heard it and then saw it hovering around the tiny blossoms of a fruit bush. My first bumblebee of the season! I'll concede that the bar for excitement might be a bit lower in retirement but, truth be told, I do get a thrill from the sounds as well as the sights of Spring and Summer. Bumblebees are under pressure these days like honey bees, although they don't get the same press. Hearing one, or a bunch, is music to my aging ears. Last summer we were on Change Islands off the coast of Newfoundland. We walked through a meadow of wild flowers and the bumblebees were a symphony.

Our yard is filled with birdsong these days and we enjoy awakening to the sound of the "dawn chorus." It was International Dawn Chorus Day earlier this week and the robins didn't let us down.

And a couple of evenings ago we paddled on Sawguin Creek and heard other creatures. A bittern was gallumping in the cattails, that deep, curious sound which is quite marvelous. We came around a corner to startle a beaver and disappeared with a warning slap of its tail. At one point we drifted toward the cattails and just listened to the spring peepers who were making a real racket. I recently discovered that another familiar but previously unidentified Spring-time sound is the mating call of the toad -- I kid you not.

All of this is God's orchestra for me and the experience is deeply spiritual. Click on these links for some earthy orchestral music.

Bittern

https://www.google.ca/search?source=hp&ei=9gPzWpCSJ-m9ggfgoangCA&q=american+bittern+call&oq=american+bi&gs_l=psy-ab.1.0.0i20i263k1j0l9.11399.14514.0.17622.12.10.0.0.0.0.370.1587.0j1j3j2.6.0....0...1.1.64.psy-ab..6.6.1584.0..35i39k1j0i67k1j0i131i67k1j0i131k1.0.LaCMBblQdxY

Toad

https://www.google.ca/search?source=hp&ei=zwPzWqzcDpKf_QaOtaCABw&q=american+toad+call&oq=american+toad&gs_l=psy-ab.1.1.0l10.2692.10265.0.12377.25.19.0.0.0.0.1276.4262.0j4j4j0j3j7-1.12.0....0...1.1.64.psy-ab..13.12.4253.0..0i10k1j35i39k1j0i131k1.0.6pJjYgDdXaY