why do birds sing in the rain?

Why do birds sing in the rain? I hear them now, singing despite this steady morning rain, the rumble of thunder, the short flash of lightning and the strange darkness of a storm in daylight. Maybe birds sing in the rain to tell each other their daily stories. Music contains the possibility of telling a story against a rich backdrop of a day. Is it only my perception telling me birds are singing a song? Perhaps, they are making music, not singing a song.

The definition of a song is a composition composed of words and music. It is also a "distinctive or characteristic set of sounds" i.e. bird, animal sounds or a poem set to music. This bird song has a distinctive set of sounds but they don't seem to be repeated over and over.

I write poetry but I can say words are sometimes a clumsy vehicle for thoughts, emotion and expressing ideas. Sometimes, I wish all languages were interchangeable. I imagine there is a French or Spanish word perfectly expressing what I am struggling to say in a poem. This type of thinking only makes my situation more frustrating.  Next, I try to use this information as if I know magic works. There is a word to cast the poetic spell but I must keep trying word after word to find the proper one.

Recently, I was reading about American Sign Language. Deaf people use use sign language differently. Sign is symbolic when it isn't a translation of English but its' own language. Sign is richer and says more with less. Symbols are "something that stands for or suggests something else by reason of relationship." The Greek word symballein means "to put together." Symbols are a way of communicating, perceiving, and translating with more freedom than words. Freedom also means less accuracy and less control over meaning which may be good or bad depending on the poet.

There are deaf poets of course. What would it be like to know sign and see poetry through sign rather than hear or read it? Any type of translation is different. The poet communicates in his own language best, right? Deaf people are translating their works into another language; losing some of the meaning, some of the rhythmic song of poetry in the process. Perhaps, part of the beauty of signed poetry is the actual signing. I have watched deaf interpreters at work. Their hands flow in a sort of dance while their faces contort in to add a depth to meaning. To think on that many levels while writing seems almost too complicated.

Science currently supports the theory that birds sing to secure a mate and to proclaim their territoriality to other birds. The length of time spent singing signals superior strength because singing expends energy. Birds sing in the morning because they have more energy. Morning singing allows birds to expend extra energy safely before spending the day avoiding predators and searching for food. Such singing says this is my territory, today. Birds need to reinforce territoriality often. I guess singing in the rain could be a way of proclaiming even more superior strength. Wouldn't a bird want to save strength in the onslaught of wind and rain? Isn't a generally noisy storm a better time to be silent?

Why do birds sing in the rain? Another one of my theories, completely based on my thinking without any contribution from science, says birds sing in the rain because sitting still and silent in the rain is a miserable experience. Rain is hard on creatures that live outside.

Birds sing because they can sing and say I am here. Storms and rain will not stop me from singing about the big, fat breakfast I just ate, the berries I found in my own secret spot and the predator I just avoided with my own cunning. It was exciting! Listen! And with a nod to scientists, maybe also announcing I am at home or/ and protecting my home. How much of our own conversation and stories are really an offshoot of territoriality? When I tell you about what happened to me today, I am usually sharing my values, my sense of what should have happened or my approval of what did happen. Are we also implying, this is how it is in my space?

I still want to think birds are communicating more than a song for their territory. Apparently, birds collect other birds’ songs. Mimicry is a way to convey how cool you are and helps in obtaining a mate. Don't we all mimic each other? We say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. When a person shares another persons' exciting or traumatic experience, isn't some of what gets conveyed mimicry in the form of quoting their words and interpreting their emotions with your own facial expressions?

I know as a therapist, what is communicated to me when seeing clients is like stepping into a vast sea of their words, emotions, behavior, and my perceptions of their past, my experience of them and my own experiences. There is a lot of information communicated in the room. Sorting through the information is part of the work of therapy. I choose what to attach meaning to and what to respond to, based on a wide field. At this point in my career, I feel safer having a wider field. There is more information to base my perceptions on once I decide a direction.  

Narrowing communication to one form such as sign language or singing wouldn't necessarily make for a purer meaning. I think my chances of a correct interpretation of what is being communicated could lessen, depending on the relationship, my understanding and even such variables as how tired I am, who I saw before you and what is going on in my life today.

Birds are different. I only hear birds singing in the rain. I rarely see them singing. Does one form of communication, singing, increase the power of what is communicated? I think I listen with more focus. Singing birds can sound beautiful. Beautiful sounds certainly seduce me into listening longer.

I guess I will never have a real answer to why birds sing in the rain until we can ask them in their own language. Perhaps, birds sing in the rain because despite the rain and the noise of storms; their song, the song of their life even, is important and worth saying. Even worth repeating and practicing until each note has its own value, says as perfectly as it can, that feeling or that experience and how their world changed from it. Hearing the birds singing reminds me to hope we continue to tell each other our stories. Telling stories, not tweets or texts but stories is a way to learn; about each other and about our lives together.