The Trees Have Their Own Songs

Now that you’ve learned the songs of 100 birds,
your task is to learn the sounds of 20 trees.
It is especially easy when it rains:
“a splatter of metallic sparks”
or “a low, clean, woody thump”
or “a speed-typist’s clatter.”

This acoustic world is open to everyone,
but most of us never enter it.
Through sound, we come to know the place.

Life is about relationships;
not just networked, it is network.
The self degenerates into the network.

Roots draw nutrients from symbiotic fungi
and communicate with bacteria.
Leaves sniff the air to detect the health of neighbors
while releasing chemicals that summon
caterpillar-destroying parasites.
Photosynthetic cells harness the power of sunlight.
Seeds are dispersed by far-flying birds.

All words and phrases are from Trees Have Their Own Songs, Ed Yong, The Atlantic Monthly, April 4, 2017