Despite the old saw about critics, writing about music or art is an exercise in translating the untranslateable—conveying the emotional impact while using an alien system. You’re not just describing something; you’re attempting to recreate the experience of encountering it. For Orion, Patrick Madden applies that exercise to a birdcall, and turns it into a lovely meditation on the shortcomings and opportunities of an unfit tool.
The part of this story you’re still missing is some kind of description of the zorzal’s song, some attempt to render what my ears have heard. So far, you’ve got vagaries like “call,” “song,” and “trill,” but these are, after all, just ready-made words. I might be describing any bird, or human, or bagpipes. So let me give it a go. I could say that the sound a zorzal makes is both musically rhythmic and rhythmically defiant. I don’t think it would scan well or fit right on a musical staff. Their song strikes me as joyous, gleeful, proud: a quick pair of galloping triplets, followed by a climbing slur, a sudden double drop, then a legato rising hold and, finally, a lower, unresolved note that leaves me, for one, wanting more. So the bird begins again.
More picks about birds
On Loving Birds
“A couple of years after I began volunteering, I realized I was hell-bent on healing birds because they, too, had healed me—in more ways than one.”
The Lucrative Bird-Singing Contests That Are Pushing Species to the Brink
“Millions of songbirds in Southeast Asia are trapped and smuggled each year for keeping as pets or entering in competitions. Scientists warn that it’s fueling a crisis.”
Are Crows Really Our Friends?
“An investigation into the state of corvid–human relations.”
Rockhopper Penguins’ Athleticism Makes Them the Daredevils of the Animal World. Will a Warming Climate Slow Them Down?
“A visit to the Falkland Islands, where the fearless seabirds navigate the rugged topography with tenacious spunk, shows the new challenges they face.”
Lord God Bird
“Does the ivory-billed woodpecker still exist?”
Plume: A Tale of Murder and Martyrdom in the Everglades
“Guy Bradley gave his life to save South Florida’s tropical birds, becoming one of the environmental movement’s first martyrs.”
