Today's Freewrite prompt had me revisiting the Freewrite list of 60 promts. Last time I chose #58. For years, he carefully planned out this day.
Today I have selected #59:
The birds didn’t go south for the winter.
Remember when going outside meant you were greeted with a cacophony of bird song? When it seemed like the birds sole job was to greet the day with a burst of song sharing the joy they felt at being alive?
Remember the year the birds didn't go south for the winter?
The birds didn't stay either.
They just disappeared.
No one knows where they went. It seemed to happen from one day to the next. It was the folks who had bird feeders and bird baths in their yard that noticed first. Their bird feeders remained full. Their bird baths empty.
They raised the query within online neighborhood groups to see if anyone else had noticed something amiss with the lack of birds. When others shared their own concern a flurry of messages flew into the comments at lightening speed. All of the sudden the complete absence of bird song was all anyone could hear.
Stepping outside to the silence became a somber experience. Where were the birds? There were no mass deaths or slow sickness or disease. One day we all went to bed like any other day and the next day instead of being greeted with birdsong we were met with silence.
Nowadays the only way to hear birdsong is to listen to recordings on mobile apps or watch Animal Planet or National Geographic type shows on TV or YouTube. There are even 24 hour streaming channels online of nothing but birdsong.
Funny how we didn't appreciate birds when we were surrounded daily with the joy of their song. Yet now we do miss them so very much.
This is a work of fiction (of course) but it does have a root in reality. We did experience a week in our surrounding area where this exact scenario happened. We've begun hearing some bird song again, but nothing like the symphony of bird song we have heard in the past. Why? That still remains a mystery.