Time is cyclic, as caused and demonstrated by orbits, seasons, and migrations. To honour those elliptical events I get to practice rituals with the land based on what is occurring in reaction to the always ongoing changes. One such ritual is observing the Spring Migration of songbirds.

Every year around this time I get to practice listening to the birds. I go and do my sit spot, or go for a walk and listen intently to try and notice who has returned to my part of the world from away, or who has been here all winter, but is now singing out.

I listen for territorial and mating calls/songs, companion calls, as well as for alarms, intraspecies aggression, and eventually juvenile begging calls. These are just some of the varied reasons why a bird may create some sort of cue, but definitely the easier ones for me to pick-up on. There is so much more which I don’t know.

This tradition is about relationship building through active listening and paying attention. We can’t know someone without listening to them, without giving them attention and acknowledging them. By listening to the birds and working towards understanding them we start to identify their needs, “desires” and habits. By listening to a human friend we do the same. Through this identification we might also develop empathy and care, compassion and love. Seems worth the listen to me.

Why not ritualize this interspecies relationship building and also honour it through highlighting and uplifting on this podcast platform as I might a researcher, author, or knowledge holder? Once we’ve listened where do we go from there? How do we deepen the bonds that listening creates? Can we know the land better through listening to the more-than-human world? I think so. Let’s give it a shot.