Every day is “Dawn Chorus Day” for me!

Here’s a great one we can celebrate in Color Country.

May 3rd is Internatinal Dawn Chorus Day!

They even have their own web page: http://www.idcd.info/

For the uninitiated, the “dawn chorus” is the “the world’s oldest wake-up call.” It’s the symphony of bird calls that you can start to hear well before the sun comes up. The chorus reaches its peak around dawn. My wife and I get up well before dawn to experience Color Country waking up each day. (Watching the sun rise here in Color Country is a part of the treat too.)

Right now, this seems to be more of a British phenomenon than an “international” one. They take their birds seriously in Britain. (I recall standing above a sea shore swamp in an English bird refuge where I could see a large percentage of the world’s Avocet population, all in one place.) But they’re trying to take it to the international level.

Here in Color Country, the town of Springdale has acknowledged International Dawn Chorus Day by sending out an email encouraging people to celebrate. Fay Cope wrote, “I encourage you to go to the Dawn Chorus website and listen to some of the birdsongs recorded there. It will lift your spirits.”

And I encourage you to get out of bed early on May 3rd … maybe even stay the night in Zion Canyon … and experience the dawn chorus on it’s own day.

Or … you can celebrate National Raspberry Popover Day. That’s on May 3rd too.