«Bird Day»

Surely no child, and few adults, have ever watched a bird in flight without envy.

Isaac Asimov

A bird is an instrument working according to mathematical law, which instrument it is within the capacity of man to reproduce with all its movements, but not with a corresponding degree of strength, though it is deficient only in the power of maintaining equilibrium. We may therefore say that such an instrument constructed by man is lacking in nothing except the life of the bird, and this life must needs be supplied from that of man.

Leonardo da Vinci

A bird maintains itself in the air by imperceptible balancing, when near to the mountains or lofty ocean crags; it does this by means of the curves of the winds which as they strike against these projections, being forced to preserve their first impetus bend their straight course towards the sky with divers revolutions, at the beginning of which the birds come to a stop with their wings open, receiving underneath themselves the continual buffetings of the reflex courses of the winds.

Leonardo da Vinci

Whenever I heard the song of a bird and the answering call of its mate, I could visualize the notes in scale, all built up within my consciousness as a natural symphony.

William Christopher Handy

I think people who don’t believe in God are crazy. How can you say there is no God when you hear the birds singing these beautiful songs you didn’t make?

Little Richard

If one bird foraging in a flock on the ground suddenly takes off, all other birds will take off immediately after, before they even know what’s going on. The one who stays behind may be prey.

Frans de Waal

Birds are a miracle because they prove to us there is a finer, simpler state of being which we may strive to attain.

Doug Coupland

Everyone likes birds. What wild creature is more accessible to our eyes and ears, as close to us and everyone in the world, as universal as a bird?

David Attenborough

Earth has few secrets from the birds.

William Beebe

God loved the birds and invented trees. Man loved the birds and invented cages.

Jacques Deval

If I had to choose, I would rather have birds than airplanes.

Charles Lindbergh

Birds are indicators of the environment. If they are in trouble, we know we’ll soon be in trouble.

Roger Tory Peterson

In order to see birds it is necessary to become a part of the silence.

Robert Lynd

For a bird, especially for the more musically inventive, song is the defining characteristic, the primary way by which it knows itself and is known by others. To lose its species song is to lose not just its identity but some part of its presence in the world.

John Burnside

Watching birds has become part of my daily meditation affirming my connection to the earth body.

Carol P Christ

The bird is powered by its own life and by its motivation.

P. J. Abdul Kalam

When you have birds you stare at them a lot and their eyes are recessed on their head. When they look at something they tilt their head in a quizzical expression.

Ted Rall

Birds ... are sensitive indicators of the environment, a sort of “ecological litmus paper,” ... The observation and recording of bird populations over time lead inevitably to environmental awareness and can signal impending changes.

Roger Tory Peterson

Everyone wants to understand painting. Why is there no attempt to understand the song of the birds?

Pablo Picasso

The reason birds can fly and we can’t is simply because they have perfect faith, for to have faith is to have wings.

J.M. Barrie, The Little White Bird

Birds have wings; they’re free; they can fly where they want when they want. They have the kind of mobility many people envy.

Roger Tory Peterson