I listen to BirdNote on NPR every morning at nine. It's a two minute radio segment about birds: how they act; sounds they make; why they migrate; where they live; even bird folklore. The other day, I heard a story about how bird brains change during the seasons and why. Seems some bird species like the Black-capped Chickadee, have evolved a unique trait. During the fall and winter, these highly melodious birds stop singing and instead, call to one another. The reason is that there is no need to sing because they are not looking for mates at this time of year. The center in their brains that controls song actually shrinks and in the spring this area of the brain rejuvenates. Not only that, their hearing is affected in the same manner. They hear better in the spring so they can choose the best mates. The females select their mates by the quality of his song.
That got me to thinking about myself. I was aware that I was less productive during the cold months and attributed it to my extra busy schedule (appearing at events to sell my books) and lack of vitamin D. But maybe I have what I just denoted as Bird-Brain Syndrome. The center in my brain that controls creativity shrinks and the one that controls survival expands; survival as needing to pay those bills.
About two weeks ago, I seemed to have switched from my survival phase to my creative phase. I'm now working on three mysteries, yes THREE mysteries and guess what. It's so much fun. Not only that, I'm blogging more, if you haven't already noticed.
Here's the BirdNote segment that alleviated my feeling like I was a wintertime writing slacker.
http://birdnote.org/show/singers-brain-changes-seasons
Labels: #birds #birding #writing #humor #birdwatching #creativity