Learning birdsong…

But ask the animals, and they will teach you,
    or the birds in the sky, and they will tell you

Job 12:7 NIV

If we spoke a different language, we would perceive a somewhat different world.

Ludwig Wittgenstein

As I was walking along my neighborhood wetland path recently, I was noticing the sound of many birds. Though I’ve lived here more than a decade, I may recognize birds by sight, but not by their song. Most birds have more than one call and often there are multiple birds singing at once, so that does complicate things, but you would think that I would have learned their calls by now.

It made me think of how I’ve been relearning Spanish over the last few years, but I still have a remarkable lack of understanding/remembering a number of words, even words that have been repeated relatively often.  When I think about some of those words, it may be that the pronunciation is more challenging or it just might be a word that I don’t really use much in my life so I unconsciously attach less importance to learning it well. 

Some people are naturally good at learning languages so I wouldn’t be surprised if they would also be great “birders” (those who learn to identify birds by their calls).  They have a gift for auditory learning.  As a teacher, I know that auditory learning is not one of my strengths, but that doesn’t mean that I can’t work on it. In the case of Spanish, it could even be practical. Matching bird calls to birds is more an exercise to challenge myself to learn, even when it’s not easy.  Something fun in which I have a mild interest and regular opportunities.

Do you challenge yourself to learn new things regularly?  Even when not easy?  Take time to notice the world around you and find something that sparks your interest…and go learn more about it!