Dawn chorus

The nights are drawing in now. I think that's the phrase for the day after midsummer. I can report that it was getting light at about 3:30 this morning, and the birds were singing. (Caffeine and concerns had kept me awake.) The motorways were quite busy too. Though at least the trains had stopped. I tried to record the dawn chorus once for a video. It was spoiled somewhat by the background noise.

Bees hum because they don't know the words, but why do birds sing? The reductive view is that it's all about mating and territory. But there's more to say than that. I always wondered about these verses from Luke 19:

37 When he came near the place where the road goes down the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen:

38 “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!”
“Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”
39 Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples!”

40 “I tell you,” he replied, “if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.”

Praise from inanimate objects may be hyperbole - i don't know. Worship is a strange thing. One of the books I'm reading says that we will worship either the Creator or a creation:
"Why does God insist that we worship him? For the same reason that parents tell their young children to stay away from fire or speeding cars. God doesn’t want humans to detach themselves from ultimate reality, which only ends up harming us."

He then quotes C.S. Lewis ( who is usually right):
"The world rings with praise—lovers praising their mistresses, readers their favorite poet, walkers praising the countryside, players praising their game. . . . I think we delight to praise what we enjoy because the praise not merely expresses but completes the enjoyment; it is appointed consummation."

Some odd examples maybe (mating and territory again!) but I think I see what he means.

Do birds know who made them? Perhaps it's enough that we do.

Location:Shed