Earth's Wild Music: Celebrating and Defending the Songs of the Natural World

“Sometimes sounds turn me almost inside out with longing.” — Kathleen Dean Moore, “Earth's Wild Music”

The sounds Kathleen Dean Moore writes about in the above line from “Earth's Wild Music” (2021) are the sounds of nature, Other naturalists write mostly about animal behavior or the visual beauty of nature, but Moore's focus is on what she hears when she steps outside.

These essays contain some of the most beautiful nature writing — or any kind of writing — one is likely to find. She writes about the songs of humpback whales, a rattlesnake's rattle, the calls of birds, the warning calls of various animals and even the sounds heard in one of the few places left in the United States where no human sounds can be heard.

"The show more whole planet sings," she writes. Yet the sound is getting dimmer. While the mission of her book is to call our attention to the sounds of nature, it is at the same time about making her readers aware that so many species are rapidly diminishing. Under the threat of expanding human development, pollution, climate change or whatever, animal life is simply not nearly as abundant as it once was. Our grandchildren will live in a very different world, one in which there is much less wild music.

"Our work is not to save our way of life," she writes, "but to save the world from this way of life's destructive power." show less

I live in a rural area, surrounded by nature. Our neighbors have cows, horses, goats, etc and the pastures host wild turkeys, deer, and all sorts of wildlife. Birds sing throughout the day and love a bountiful supply of sunflower seeds in the feeders. A few days ago three deer were only a few feet from my window. Sometimes I need to be reminded of how blessed I am to be able to live away from man's busy concrete jungle and in the serenity of the sounds of nature. Excellent writing and a fascinating read. Enjoy!!