Silence is the absence of sound and quiet the stilling of sound. Silence can’t be anything but silent. Quiet chooses to be silent. It holds its breath to listen. It waits and is still.
Frederick Buechner, Whistling in the Dark
The other day I was talking with a friend in the driveway when a flash of blue caught both our eyes. We followed it to the upper branches of a sugar maple.
“It’s not a bluebird,” my friend said.
“No. I know this one,” I told him. “It’s an Indigo Bunting.” I knew this because one had flown into the glass of a window and lay stunned on our deck some years ago. I took this photo to identify it and wrote a less-than-titillating post about it called “Bleh“
Aren’t the blues stunning?
What has this to do with quiet? Well, my favorite time of day has long been early morning. I get up before the sun to sit with a cup of coffee, a book, and a journal. I need the alone time. I need the quiet time.
Of late, I’ve been using Merlin to identify the birds that join me one at a time in my early morning quiet.
The robin is nearly always first — and monopolizes the conversation. I laugh when it’s the first — you know, getting the worm and all. But it’s quickly joined by sparrows and vireos, wrens and woodpeckers.
And indigo buntings.
The other morning, the bunting was outside my window and I snapped this photo:
Years ago, I had held one, stunned, in my hand and later watched it fly away.
Every morning now, I hold my breath in quiet and listen to the birds, remembering the resurrection of one, and marveling at life.
Hot Dogs and Marmalade 
Beautiful post
I get up at five every morning and at that time, it is almost daylight here in middle Alabama. The birds have started singing. I sometimes laugh out loud at their “voices.” Some days it sounds like they are trying to sing loudly enough to drown out the other birds.
It’s always a blessing when a bird gets up after running into a window and flys away.
It’s a gorgeous bird! What an incredible shade of blue! I’ve only seen them in my bird books; never been lucky enough to have one visit my gardens. I’m an early riser, too.