WHEN men invented flying machines they were noisy, but when God made songbirds they could sing the purest music on earth! Genesis 1:21

The sophisticated song mechanism of birds leaves scientists speechless. Birds are such skilled musicians that it often requires someone with a degree in music to fully appreciate their brilliance. Nightingales can have a repertoire of 300 songs stored in their brains! They will often sing 70 songs before they repeat the repertoire again with perfect accuracy. Many birds have 'absolute pitch' meaning that they can determine exactly what key they sing in without reference to anything like a tuning fork!

Some birds can perform antiphonal singing where two birds sing alternate notes in a song. This requires knowledge of the duet by both partners and split second timing in the execution of the duet. When human beings do this it's considered very skilful and impressive yet birds can accomplish it easily!

Since man-made music has an intelligent composer it's perfectly reasonable to assume that birdsong has an intelligent, divine Composer. This assumption can be confirmed by applying what the dictionary defines as, 'the abstract science of mathematics' to birdsong. This will prove that the music of the birds obeys perfectly the laws of melody, rhythm, harmony etc. Any sounds produced by chance and not by design would be as discordant as a toddler banging on the keys of a piano.

Some say that birdsong is only required for communication and mating purposes but the complexity of their music goes way beyond any simple sounds that would satisfy these needs. We can safely conclude that birdsong was created for our enjoyment and that the dawn chorus was meant to remind us to praise God for every new day!

Rev David V. Jebson