Nature's orchestra

It can be quite nice all sleeping in one room. Sometimes if only two of you are awake you can play whispering or sign games while the others are asleep.  This morning I was lying awake listening to the cacophony of sounds at dawn. It's a little like hearing a song and trying to listen out for the sound of a specific instrument. But in the Atlantic Rainforest, there are so many different sounds, squeaks, tweets, squawks, low-pitched whistles, from the various animals, birds, frogs and insects, punctuated by the cockerel* (whose time clock is out as he starts at about 4am every day) that it's impossible to count how many sounds there are.  We also enjoy a vigorous rustling in the roof of the bats every morning and evening, with their high pitched almost cartoon-like laughing. 

Louis looked over and could see I was awake and gave a little wave and a smile. Suddenly, there was a piercing shriek, much louder than the rest of the sounds.  Louis' eyes widened in surprise - "What was THAT?" he whispered.  I had absolutely no idea and given all the birds out here have very long names like “great-breasted falsetto-warbling ant-shrike”, my guess would invariably be way off the mark, but I explained I imagined that it was how a passing pterodactyl might have sounded, and we shared stifled laughs together.  

I wonder if that's our 4am cockerel....

"Daddy, I can't sleep with that chicken"' he said, referring to the cockerel and settling down with his fingers in his ears. Unable to block out the cockerel though, Louis put his head torch on and started making hand shapes on the wall.  An extra shape appeared and we realised Frankie was up too!

* We did wonder whether there was an outside chance of a cockerel-eating spider that might be encouraged to make an appearance. Alas not.