It is suggested that birds manage to fly long distances from overwintering to nesting sites, or from distant car park to home loft, by using a combination of an internal magnetic compass and navigation by the sun and stars. Scientists are now suggesting they use another method: infrasound. Birds know the sound of their destination and travel towards that.
Infrasound is the very low frequency sound made by the earth itself.
Deep currents in the oceans produce a sound that can travel thousands of miles. Humans can't hear it, except with sensitive equipment, but animals can. We know whales make low sounds that can be heard by other whales far away, and elephants too apparently, but now it is thought birds can pick up these frequencies too.
Volcanoes and movements in the atmosphere can also create low sound.
I REALLY REALLY INSIST you click this link to hear recordings of infrasound - it'll blow your mind!
It is so incredibly beautiful and haunting, it's amazing to think the earth is rumbling around us all the time and we are oblivious.
Then again, perhaps we are aware. Our ears and brains pick it up, and our subconscious notes it, but that awareness doesn't float into our consciousness. Which implies we too know the sound of our home. Maybe it explains why we feel relaxed, and 'at home' in certain places. Perhaps there is a deep rumbling sound, or song of the earth, that our bodies recognise and respond to by letting go of tension. If you think it about recordings from inside the womb are similar to these. These then are the sound of Mother Earth.
I'd better stop there - the inner hippy is getting out.
You HAVE clicked that link, haven't you?
