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The birds were added at the end; the article specifies that there was no actual audio recorded and this is a reconstruction based on a series of proto-seismogra
by Invictus0 7y ago
The birds were added at the end; the article specifies that there was no actual audio recorded and this is a reconstruction based on a series of proto-seismograph records.
- jtbayly 7y agoThanks. I skipped the article, because I was looking for the audio. The birds are dumb.
- ornornor 7y agoIt’s for a museum, for an interactive exhibition. It’s a nice touch.
- jtbayly 7y agoWell, I understand why they were added. But they ruin the sombre silence.
- capableweb 7y agoI don't understand why. No birds would still be present in an environment where you have so many bombs and guns going off, they would be far away by then and take long time before they are brave enough to come back.
- jfk13 7y agoMaybe you should read _Where Poppies Blow_ by John Lewis-Stempel. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/29905681-where-poppies-blow https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/29905681-where-poppies-b... Or even just skim the reviews on Amazon: > ...no man’s land was, effectively, a bird reserve with a barbed wire perimeter: ‘If it weren’t for the birds, what a hell it would be’ says one soldier. Experiences with birds, especially when they were singing in the lulls, lifted their spirits: “They offered a touch of Heaven in Hell.”
- capableweb 7y agoHaven't heard about that book before, thanks for the recommendation. I'm a bit hesitant to read a book to confirm if birds are scared off bombs and how long time it'll take for them to come back after setting off artillery and other explosions, could you share the section from the book where it's confirmed that birds didn't care about this and stayed where they were? The description of the book says "At the most basic level, animals and birds provided interest to fill the blank hours in the trenches and billets" which makes sense. When nothing is happening, the birds will come back after a while. But seconds after fighting? Not so sure about that. My experience with birds are that if you make the slightest movement and they see you, they will be gone for a while.
- cs02rm0 7y agoI'd imagine that'll happen the first time. When there's as much going on as in WW1 though with them having no idea where to go to avoid artillery, with potentially less competition for food, established nests and fewer people around in no man's land than elsewhere, I can well imagine over time they'd get relatively used to it.
- jfk13 7y agoI don't have the Lewis-Stempel book at hand to go digging for quotes, but this is from an eyewitness account of the Somme: > "It was the birdsong," he said, "the birdsong in that short gap when the artillery barrage stopped and before the whistles blew for us to get out of the trench and start running - it was beautiful." https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-36689445 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-36689445
- capableweb 7y agoInteresting. Thanks a lot for sharing that, it seems to indeed confirm the birds were much braver than I thought.
- Insanity 7y ago